Skip to main content

Full text of "Mojo - October 2021"

See other formats 


ARETHA 


CLOSE UP! 


JACK WHITE 


AKES CARE OF BUSINESS. 













NEW ALBUM 






to dm use ў) a-M т l 

again!" %” Me | DYLAN 
| ж 23 4 HIS 80S 

4. RECONSIDERED! 


THE WARS 
ON DRUGS 


GET HIGHER 
LINDSEY 
BUCKINGHAM 


MAC TO THE 
FUTURE? 


FAUST 
“POP’S ULTIMATE 
REVOLUTION” 












THE WORST 
FESTIVAL 






CARGO C 


| | ts 
rr BITE FRDRD Hm | 
LAL’ Fora Н F Ta мді р 





GOAT 


HEADSOUP 
ROCKET RECORDINGS LP / CD 
A globetrotting acid trip of an album, collecting rarities 
spanning GOAT’s career: standalone singles, B-sides and 
two enormous brand new tracks! 


LITTLE EDEN 
FIRE RECORDS LP / CD 


Hotly anticipated new album from legendary band, 
released on their 35th Anniversary. Limited edition 
gatefold 2LP/2CD featuring photographs by Nick 
Saloman. “A cult favourite.” Pitchfork. “Still mixing 
pop, punk and psych to giddy effect.” The Guardian. 


SUPERINERTIA 





HAIKU SALUT 


THE HILL, THE LIGHT, THE GHOST 


SECRET NAME LP / CD 
A beautiful study of ghosts and memory, this fifth album 
from Haiku Salut weaves spellbinding electronica, post- 
rock and neo-classical with evocative field recordings. 
“Poetic, bewitching” - Clash. 


10 000 RUSSOS 


SUPERINERTIA 


FUZZ CLUB LP / CD 
Motorik psych-rock champions 10 000 Russos take a 
more synth-driven approach on their fifth album 
‘Superinertia’, due out September 10th on Fuzz Club. 


GA-ZO 


DOES HOW XI ІНІН. ТАТАН: 


И TEY IT... ТЕН! 
АМЫ МЕК GT: 





RED RIBBON 


PLANET X 
DANGER COLLECTIVE LP / CD 


Red Ribbon's new album is a touching collection of her 
most innovative, striking songs to date. Planet X is the 
sound of a band pushed to the outer reaches of their 
creative comfort zones. 


DOES HOUND DOG TAYLOR:TRY IT... 
YOU MIGHT LIKE IT! 

KARMA CHIEF RECORDS LP / CD 
Colemine Records in partnership with Alligator Records 
will release GA-20’s new album. GA-20 Does Hound Dog 
Taylor, featuring 10 songs written or performed by the 

Chicago blues legend. 





YVETTE 


HOW THE GARDEN GROWS 
WESTERN VINYL LP / CD 
Post-industrial / neo-no wave music evoking the spirit of 
This Heat, Throbbing Gristle, and Cabaret Voltaire. NME 
says they’re “one of the best” and Pitchfork calls them 
"authoritative. . ..and transfixing.” 


ESSENTIAL ALIENS 
JOYFUL NOISE RECORDINGS LP 


Essential Aliens takes all the elements of the Helvetia 
sound & simplifies--there is no reverb or delay used on 
this record. Short blasts of stoner chill with no specific 
genre in mind, this is like forever rummaging through a 

radio dial looking for weird tunes. 


AN AMALGAMATION OF RECORD SHOPS AND 





LABELS 


OLLECTIVE 





JASON SHARP 


THE TURNING CENTRE OF A STILL WORLD 
CONSTELLATION LP / CD 


An impressive, expressive, immersive mission statement 
from Sharp: a singular exploration of human / machine 
calibration & biofeedback using saxophones & human 
pulse patched through custom modular synthesis. RIYL 

Fennesz, Tim Hecker, Ben Frost. 





ALICIA WALTER 


| AM ALICIA 
SOOPER RECORDS LP / CD 


Equipped with a “near-cosmic voice" (WIRED) in a 
"stratosphere of songwriting all her own" (Consequence), 
Alicia’s debut embraces influences spanning from jazz & 
the classic composition of American standards to hip-hop 
& new wave to build her own brand of eclecti-pop. 


CHORUSING 


HALF MIRROR 
WESTERN VINYL LP / CD 


Chorusing’s debut album combines a homemade 
synthesizer and guitars with confessional folk 
songwriting, yielding cosmic yet earthly results. Clash 
Calls it “hypnotic.” RIYL Arthur Russell, Bonnie Prince 
Billy, Elephant Micah. 


< OF ROCK X ROLL 





PHIL ODGERS 


GHOSTS OF ROCK N ROLL 
VINYL STAR CD 


The Men They Couldn't Hang frontman, Phil ‘Swill’ Odgers, 
launches out of lockdown with this outstanding new album 


brimming with spirit, blood, sweat and tears. 


DEDICATED ТО 








TRICKS ON MY MIND 
HEADLINE RECORDS LP / CD 
"The missing link between FREE and THE BLACK KEYS" 
Paul Elliott (Q & Mojo). You'll hear soulful vocals, guitar 
riffs, solos, and heavy drum grooves, what more do 
you need? 





EPHAT MUJURU & 
THE SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE 


MBAVAIRA 
AWESOME TAPES FROM AFRICA LP / CD 


Mujuru was Zimbabwe’s foremost mbira (thumb piano) 
player who brought Shona music to the world. Available 
outside Zimbabwe for the first time. All-acoustic, 
calming music for these times. 





SUUNS 


THE WITNESS 


JOYFUL NOISE RECORDINGS LP / CD 
The Witness finds the band holding a magnifying glass 
over their own state of playing & performing. While the 
world becomes a more distorted place, The Witness 
extends a sonic lifeline to latch onto, one bolstered by 
years of friendship, chemistry & trust. 





DEAFHEAVEN 


INFINITE GRANITE 
SARGENT HOUSE LP / CD 
Deafheaven return with their new album Infinite Granite. 
Produced by Justin Meldal-Johnsen (M83, Wolf Alice), 
Infinite Granite finds the band embarking on a new 
chapter of defiant beauty. 


BRINGING YOU NEW MUSIC 


IRELAND: DUBLIN - SPINDIZZY / KILKENNY - ROLLER COASTER RECORDS NORTHERN IRELAND: BANGOR - CHOONS / SABLE STARR RECORDS SCOTLAND: DUNDEE - ASSAI / EDINBURGH - ASSAI / GLASGOW - LOVE MUSIC / GLASGOW - MONORAIL / WALES: ABERYSTWYTH - ANDY'S 
RECORDS / BANGOR - BENDING SOUND / CAMARTHENSHIRE - TANGLED PARROT / CARDIFF - SPILLERS / NEWPORT - DIVERSE / SWANSEA - DERRICKS / SWANSEA - TANGLED PARROT NORTH- WEST: BARROW-IN-FURNESS - TNT RECORDS / LIVERPOOL - 81 RENSHAW LTD / LIVERPOOL 
- PROBE / MANCHESTER - PICCADILLY RECORDS / PRESTON - ACTION RECORDS NORTH-EAST: BINGLEY - FIVE RISE RECORDS / HARROGATE - P & С MUSIC / HEADINGLEY - VINYL WHISTLE / HUDDERSFIELD - VINYL TAP / LEEDS - CRASH / LEEDS - JUMBO RECORDS / NEWCASTLE - J G 
WINDOWS / NEWCASTLE - BEATDOWN / NEWCASTLE - BEYOND VINYL / NEWCASTLE - REFLEX / SCARBOROUGH - RECORD REVIVALS / SHEFFIELD - BEAR TREE / SHEFFIELD - RECORD COLLECTOR / SHEFFIELD - SPINNING DISCS / STOCKTON ON TEES - SOUND IT OUT / WAKEFIELD - WAH 
WAH RECORDS MIDLANDS: BEDFORD - SLIDE RECORDS / CAMBRIDGE - LOST IN VINYL / CAMBRIDGE - RELEVANT / COVENTRY - JUST DROPPED IN / DERBY - REVEAL RECORDS / LEAMINGTON SPA - HEAD / LEAMINGTON SPA - SEISMIC RECORDS / LEIGHTON BUZZARD - BLACK CIRCLE 
RECORDS / LETCHWORTH - DAVID’S MUSIC / LOUTH - OFF THE BEATEN TRACK / NOTTINGHAM - ROUGH TRADE / OXFORD - TRUCK STORE / STOKE ON TRENT - MUSIC MANIA / STOKE ON TRENT - STRAND RECORDS / WITNEY - RAPTURE SOUTH: BEXHILL ON SEA - MUSIC’S NOT DEAD / 
BLANDFORD FORUM - REVOLUTION ROCKS / BOURNEMOUTH - VINILO / BRIGHTON - RESIDENT / BURY ST.EDMUNDS - VINYL HUNTER / GODALMING - RECORD CORNER/ HASTINGS - CLOTH AND WAX / LEIGH-ON-SEA - FIVES / LONDON - BANQUET GRAVITY / LONDON - CASBAH / LONDON 
- FLASHBACK / LONDON - ROUGH TRADE EAST / LONDON - ROUGH TRADE TALBOT RD / LONDON - SISTER RAY / LUTON - VINYL REVELATIONS / NORWICH - VENUS VINYL / ROMSEY - HUNDRED / SOUTHSEA - PIE & VINYL / SOUTHEND ON SEA - SOUTH RECORDS / ST ALBANS - EMPIRE RE- 
CORDS / WATFORD - LP CAFE / WIMBORNE - SQUARE RECORDS / WHITSTABLE - GATEFIELD SOUNDS / WINCHESTER - ELEPHANT RECORDS SOUTH WEST: BRISTOL - RADIO ON / BRISTOL - ROUGH TRADE / CHELTENHAM - BADLANDS / FALMOUTH - JAM / FROME — RAVES FROM THE GRAVE 
/ MARLBOROUGH - SOUND KNOWLEDGE / NEWTON ABBOT - PHOENIX / TOTNES - DRIFT MAILORDER AND INTERNET ONLY STORES: BLEEP.COM / BOOMKAT.COM / JUNORECORDS / MARBLE VINYL RECORDS / NORMANRECORDS.COM / PEBBLERECORDS.CO.UK / RECORDSTORE.CO.UK 


17 HEATHMAN'S ROAD, LONDON SW6 4T) - CARGORECORDS.CO.UK - INFO@CARGORECORDS.CO.UK 


CONTENTS 


LONDON + MEMPHIS + MOLINEUX 


OCTOBER 2021 Issue 335 


FEATURES 


34 THEWAR ON 
DRUGS Adam Granduciel's 


graduation from Kurt Vile's Mate to 
arena star brought angst and anxiety. 
Now he's ready to transcend: “I just 
want to keep this thing going." 


ARETHA 
FRANKLIN withthe 


Respect biopic aboutto drop, its 
director and stars talk us through 
its challenges. Plus: David Hood 
on the real Aretha in the studio. 


LOW The married Mormon 


mavens of US alt-rock are making 
the best music of their lives. It’s 
healing the mind of their troubled 
male half; can it save the world? 


READING '88 ro 


Britain's defining rockfestival to 
be reborn, first it had to die in a hail 
of turf and urine-filled projectiles. 
Eyewitnesses relive the chaos. 


gt, BOB DYLAN Never mind 


the reverb! A new Bootleg Series box 
redeems Dylan’s 1980s (Somewhat). 
We return to the trenches with his 
bemused and beleaguered band. 


PUBLIC SERVICE 
BROADCASTING 


Achtung! The UK's most singular 
group haveturned the space race 
and the mining industry into 

epic pop. Now they map Berlin. 


FAUST Their label thought 


they were getting the German 
Beatles. They got Krautrock’s most 
uncompromising group: “They 


she Was crying. МЕТ? that ot X were extreme, a different scale." 
= - 99 AL | 
made ап impression оп те. | ЕЕЕ 






74 ROBERT PLANT 
& ALISON KRAUSS 


Ax Raising Sand changed the game, 

P ys | hoovered Grammys, displaced Led 
Zeppelin in their singer's priorities. 
With a sequel due, its protagonists 

I tracetheir story sofar, with a detour 

Ж via Led Zep IV, 50 years on. 


>> 
jg» 
фы 
4 
J 


22 e | | MOJO 8 


At а branch near you!: 
expanding the Jack 
White Third Man 
empire. What 

Goes On p14. 























ALL BACK TO MY PLACE 
Toyah and Robert Fripp, Matthew E White and 
Naomi Yang share their soundtracks for living. 


REAL GONE busty Hill, Biz Markie, 


Chuck E. Weiss, John Hutchinson and many 
more, we're going to miss you. 


ASK МО) O Whither Zappa's stoner 


comedy movie role? 





WM - HELLO GOODBYE ron 
pal bel а ا‎ | Swindon to the world and back: Colin Moulding 
you let them into vey | 1! мә | recalls the beginning and end of XTC. 


| your pub? 
Albums p89. 





JAC К WHIT E dis third Man Records 


empire has retail outlets in Nashville and 
Detroit. Now Europe gets in on the act, asanew 
emporium gets set to open in London's Soho. 
“Our whole point is to try to turn people on,” 
explains Jack. 


SMALL FACES Kenney Jones vows 


to beat the Mod bootleggers by launching his 
own dedicated reissue label for the Darlings of 
Wapping Wharf Launderette. What’s cooking? 


WANDA JACKSON Bow down 


as the Queen of Rockabilly gets in Confidential 
mood, and talks Joan Jett, guitars, and her 
mum watching her as she was inducted into 
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 


AIR STUDIOS It was sir George 


Martin’s elite-level studio in a Caribbean 
paradise, where albums that defined the ‘80s 
were created. So why is it now overgrown and 
deserted? A star-packed new film tells the tale. 


BRINSLEY SCHWARZ 


He gave his name to the band that pub-rocked 
the pre-punk 70s, diced with hubris, and 
asked, What's So Funny ‘Bout Peace, Love And 
Understanding? Now he’s back. 
































MOJO FILTER 
86 NEW ALBUMS Lindsey 


Buckingham unburdens his heart, plus Ату! 
And The Sniffers, Sturgill Simpson, Big Red 
Machine, Saint Etienne, Steve Gunn and more. 


100 REISSUES Van Der Graaf Generator 


unburden the vault, plus Metallica and more. 














Making а 
splash: Lindsey 112 BOOKS Warren Ellis’s life of gum, plus 


На Baxter Dury, В.В. King, Jagger (Chris) and тоге. 











BRUTAL RUSSIAN (д | lan Harrison | Andrew Perry Shawn Brackbill 
= = Inthis issue, M0JO's News | = Andrew Perry's first MOJO cover Shawn is a photographer/direc- 
|! Editor attempts to fathom „ай story was 19975 emotional Nirvana tor based in Brooklyn and Kansas 
da the devilish legend of Faust, ж BE oral history. His summit with | City. A musiclifer, he booked 


talks to Jonny Trunk and шыл ' Robert Plant and Alison Krauss this m indie shows and tour managed 
ХТС5 Colin Moulding, and : ga pr month was по less soul-stirring, г before swapping truck stops for 
digs the new album by The 45 and he particularly thanks the Zep | | | f-stops. His work has appeared in 
227 Bug. He can’t wait to get "t 1, legend for picking up the dinner к Ж Rolling Stone, Dazed and Vogue 
out and see some live music Т. tab. After ghost-writing for John | as well as MOJO. This month he 
again, and draws comics "ONE - Lydon and Tricky, his third assisted | shoots Adam Granduciel and The 
— inhis spare time. ШЕ; ст memoir lands in 2022. | War On Drugs from p34. 





Olivia Jean, Amy Nash 


4 MOJO 


Rory Gallagher 


- 50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION - 


AVAILABLE 3' SEPTEMBER 


5 Disc Deluxe Вохѕеб includes 
a new mix of bhe original album, 
30 previously unreleased 
oubbakes and alternate takes, 
a 6 Song 1971 BBC Radio 
John Peel Sunday concert, 

4 ВВС Radio session bracks, 
plus previously unreleased 
50-minute DVD of Rory’s first-ever 
solo сопсегб. 


4 CD + 1 DVD DELUXE BOX SET, 
2 CD, LIMITED EDITION 3 LP, 
LIMITED EDITION 
1LP COLOURED VINYL 


Pre-order now at 


RoryGallagher.com 

















; aû û I 














a — |” E 
= Ж 4 A = | x | EET 
д — SG ath =i Ek — 
шешен кн EE i س‎ ы Т i ; в | | E d = mid 
== = — - (ж д Ч 5 |! | = TE M ы МЕЛ, - 
5 = a iim. === ip T = аа = d — А = mei — а... | i | "asian 
ізсіз x 3 = ES a Ir l қ а E 8 r ылы CEOLE CE ee 
= E EF, a 2: i x ТҮЙ ч = АР E MEI t 
riri? Ia spore pmp eee ee каска . , — Р 





Е 
E, 
1 





1 Robert Plant And 
cAlison Krauss 
Killing The Blues 


To begin, a key track from Raising 
Sand itself. Killing The Blues was 
brought to Plant & Krauss by 
producer Burnett, an empathetic 
collaborator whose sensitivity and 
knowledge helped fuse their diverse 
interests. Written in the mid ‘70s by 
Chris Isaak’s bassist Rowland Salley, 
among its many versions, John 
Prine’s 1979 take is another keeper. 


Written by Rowland Salley. Published by Graph 


Music (ASCAP). ©&©2007 Rounder Records; 
www.rounder.com 


Gullick, Getty (5) 


5 9 Ralph Stanley 
5 Tm Willing To Try 
Another gem unearthed 
by Alison Krauss, from 
MISON | the bluegrass trailblazer 
KRAUSS ' who appeared with her 
= on the groundbreaking 
soundtrack to the Coen Brothers’ O 
= Brother, Where Art Thou? I’m Willing 
, To Try is a powerful a cappella call 
and response with Stanley's regular 
band The Clinch Mountain Boys, from 
a 1983 gospel set, Child Of The King. 


Neal, Chris Hinkle, Steve 


` Written by Bob Fleming. Public Domain 
(098019983 Ralph Stanley. From Child Of The King 
23 (Rebel Records); www.rebelrecords.com 


ourtesy Wilkes Heritage Museum, Thanks.to Jim O 


8 MOJO 


cA Raising fand Companion 


»15 songs chosen by Robert Plant | Alison Krauss 


2 (alexico 
Sunken Waltz 


Joey Burns and John 





ЕКІНІШІ, Convertino’s Quattro is 
ES the atmospheric opener 
UII LIN to Raise The Roof, but 

~~ here Plant picks the song 


which precedes it on 2003’s fourth 
Calexico LP, Feast Of Wire. A master- 
piece of emotional and socio- 
political drama set in the edgelands 
between Arizona and Mexico, it’s 
the definitive Calexico album. 


Written by Burns, Convertino. Published by 
Lunada Bay, Good Clean Dirt Admin By Bug Music 
©2000 Quarterstick Records ©2000 City Slang 
From Hot Rail (City Slang Records) cityslang.com 


LITTLE GIRL IN ROME 
CO. in 





10 Otto Uirgial 
Little Girl In Rome 
A mystery even in the 
blues' mythical terrain, 
Otto Virgial (or Virgil) 
recorded four tracks - on 
two 78s - in Chicago, in 
1935. "The stuff Robert's introduced 
me to," says Krauss, "are often the 
blues versions of things | knew from 
growing up on the bluegrass side - 
the same stories of droughts and 
natural disasters of the dustbowl... 
Mine came from Jimmy Rogers, his 
came from Robert Johnson." 


AMA 


ү ROBER 
atu 





Written by 0 Virgial. Copyright Control 





3 «Bobby «Parker 
Steal Your Heart Away 
. Plant once claimed that 
OSE Blues Get Off My 
ay ROBERT | Shoulder, the 1957 
II UN debut by R&B guitarist 
| Bobby Parker, inspired 
him to start singing, and the riff of 
Led Zeppelin's Moby Dick is not 
dissimilar to Parker's 1961 classic 
Watch Your Step. Steal Your Heart 
Away is Watch Your Step's flipside 
- and was attempted, rumours 
persist, by Led Zep for possible 
inclusion on their 1969 debut. 






Written by B Parker. Caldwell Music 





11 The Louvin Brothers 


Alabama 


Hellraising, God-fearing 
country legends, Charlie 
MUSON | and Ira Louvin recorded 
KRAUSS / this paean to their home 
— state for their second LP, 
1956's Tragic Songs Of Life. Their 
vocal blend was a model for Krauss 
and Plant. "We'd cross parts a lot, 
like the original Louvin Brothers," 
says Krauss, "where there'd be no 
fixed tenor or baritone singer, and 
both parts are in the melody." 


Written by | Louvin, C Hill, C Louvin. Universal 


MCA MusicLtd 








ЕМІ 


4 Lefty Frizzell 
I Want To Be 
With You Always 


Alison Krauss’ first Sand 
Blasters selection is a 
MUSON country chestnut from 
KRAUSS / 1951, courtesy of William 
| ‘Lefty’ Frizzell. | Want To 
Be With You Always was his third 
Number 1 country hit, confirming 
him as a singer with almost as much 
honky-tonk star power as Hank 
Williams. Another song that was 
covered - with characteristic 
idiosyncrasy - by John Prine. 


Written by Frizzell, Beck. Copyright Control 


иш " mE 


12 Dock Boggs 
Bright Sunny South 
A Civil War-era song 
covered by Krauss and 
MISON | ner band Union Station 
KRAUSS / on 200175 New Favorite, 
—" where she focused оп 
fiddle-playing rather than singing. 
This starker, more mournful version 
comes from Appalachian legend 
Dock Boggs, accompanied only by 
his banjo and recorded in 1964, after 
Mike Seeger had rediscovered Boggs 
in Virginia in time for the folk revival. 


From Dock Boggs (FW02351) Courtesy of Smithsonian 
Folkways Recordings. ©&©1964. Used by permission. 


HEN ROBERT PLANT AND ALISON KRAUSS CAME 
together to release Raising Sand in 2007, the album 
proved spectacularly effective at uniting disparate 
worlds. Hardened rock fans were introduced to a singer 
described by producer T Bone Burnett as "the Aretha Franklin of 
bluegrass". Country aficionados discovered the rootsy nuances that 
had always lurked in the depths of Led Zeppelin's Golden God. Raising 
Sand proved just as useful at drawing out the affinities between the 
varied musics Plant and Krauss loved: the laments of old Albion and 
weird rural America; the blues and R&B and multitudinous different 
manifestations of folk; the contemporary bands who tuned in to 
these haunting traditions. 

Now, as the duo reunite for a second set of diverse covers, Raise 
The Roof, we've commissioned them to pick a selection of personal 
favourites for this very special MOJO CD. "That's the great thing 
about me and Alison,” Plant tells us, "we're ably supported by 
a world of beautiful music that one or other of us doesn't know 
too much about.” Sand Blasters is where they - and, fortunately, 
us too - can learn more... 





15 songs chosen by Robert Plant | Ali. 
' ) ЕТІ апе | Alison Krauss 








5 The Everly Brothers 6 Bert Jansch 7 pe 8 Ola Belle Reed 





I Wonder If Poison Everybody s Song My Epitaph 
I Care As Much If Plant's love of British ` Among 21st century LPs, There's a song by the 
The Everlys have featured WIHA folk was implied on . Robert Plant is clearly Appalachian folk 
on both Raising Sand and VÀ ROBERT Raising Sand, it comes to pretty obsessed with MISON | matriarch on Raise Тһе 
ALISON | Raise The Roof: on the WU the surface on Raise The Ё Low's 2005 effort, The KRAUSS . Roof, the unflinching 
KRAUSS | latter, The Price Of Love | ~ A Roof with a cover of the ~ Great Destroyer: he ^ murder ballad You Led 
is tackled. According to masterful Jansch's It Don't Bother covered two tracks on 2010's Band Me To The Wrong. Here, though, 
T Bone Burnett, Krauss said of it, Me. For Sand Blasters, Plant has Of Joy, and here includes a third, Alison Krauss chooses the title track 
"That's a great song, let's just strip plucked this ominous folk-rock Everybody's Song. With their 13th of Reed's autobiographical 1976 LP, 
it down to nothing and see how groove from 1969's Birthday Blues. studio album imminent, meet the a musical documentary of life in the 
dark we can make it." Here, she Poison (2015 Remaster), Written by Bert Jansch, Duluth band in this issue on page 46. оц Ѕһе аіеа 
pie nour) Ben EVET ne Leola Music Ltd. / Bucks Music Group Ltd. Written by Sparhawk, Parker, Micheletti. n dii cibi 
from the duo's 1958 debut. ae by АНЫ) ©2015 Sanctuary 4 Published by 1238 Music (BMI) adm. Domino Written by Ola Belle Reed. Happy Valley Music 
Witton hu DEwarky nean, Acuff Roca Records Group Ltd., a BMG company. License Publishing (9802005 Chair Kicker's Union. From i i 
Written by P Everly, D Everly. Acuff-Rose courtesy of BMG Rights МШДЕП (шк) е 257 EU. 5 M ier əң Rounder 















ғ 





- А 











Хх  “ 


"IT'S SHIT 
OR BUST... 
IT CAN 
GET A 
LITTLE 


й 
д ғ Ф 
в |. 

м. 







“ р 
i 

5 4 Я 4 

М | 


“ 
| 
SE. 
т | 4 i 


E жз 
4" gils: 
Vo. 
| 


t 


е" 
+ ii 
A 
E. E k 
П T 





13 Jum cAmidon 14 The Tony Rice Unit 15 Henry Spaulding 










As I Roved Out Midnight On Cairo Blues | 
With neat serendipity, The Stormy Deep „ Otto Virgial recorded © i IC KY. » 
OSEN, į Plant chose this Sam The young Alison Krauss ҰЛЫЛЫҚ four songs we know of; 2 

BY ROBERT | Amidon take on a trad spent a year or so BY ROBERT | Geeshie Wiley, whose 
| PLANT " song to complement ALISON | playing live with Tony i PLANT Last Kind Words graces 

=  Krauss's Dock Boggs pick: KRAUSS J Rice in the late ‘80s, ` Raise The Roof, managed 
As | Roved Out is from Amidon's — doubtless having a stab six. Plant' s unquenchable taste for 
2013 LP, Bright Sunny South. Among ағ this traditional from time to time. elusive blues musicians closes our 
the inventive folk artist's band is Rice, who died on Christmas Day comp: one of two tracks in existence 
Shahzad Ismaily, last seen playing 2020, was a fine bluegrass guitarist, by country blues enigma Henry 
accordion in Bob Dylan's masked also influenced by Byrd Clarence Spaulding, recorded in Chicago in 
band in the Shadow Kingdom film. White as he was growing up in LA. 1929. Blues lore suggests Spaulding 





died shortly after Cairo Blues and its 


Traditional, arranged by Sam Amidon, Published Written by Watson. Published by Hillgreen Music —— fiib Biddle Street Blues, were cut 


by Sam Amidon. Produced by Jerry Boys. From BMI (care of Downtown DMP Songs) ©&©1987 
Bright Sunny South ©&©2013 Nonesuch Records Inc Rounder Records; www.rounder.com 


‘Begins 
“Page 80 


Written by Spaulding. Copyright Control 





r | 
+ ъд 


a 
Ti 


il 
Ei 


a 
na. 





Cameron Lewis 





Naomi Yang 


What music are you currently 
grooving to? 

Some beautiful aloums from the late 
"705 by Michael Rother, Flammende 
Herzen, Sterntaler and Katzenmusik. 
Damon [Krukowski] found them ina 
flea market in Berlin. These records 
were an inspiration — we asked our- 
selves, could we make a record that 
sounded as if Sky Records had put 

it out? I've also been listening to 
Kankyo Ongaku, a compilation of 
Japanese ambient music, 1980-1990. 


What, if push comes to shove, is 
your all-time favourite album? 


| can always listen to Sandy Denny. 
I'd chose Fairport Convention's 
Liege & Lief as a perfect album. 


What was the first record you 





Toyah and Robert Fripp 


What music are you currently 
grooving to? 

Toyah: Pink Noise by Laura Mvula. 
I've been a massive fan since seeing 
Laura at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival 
about six years ago. 

Robert: Jón Leifs, Einojuhani 
Rautavaara, Peteris Vasks and Giya 
Kancheli as composers, and Hilary 
Hahn as player. 


What, if push comes to shove, is 
your all-time favourite album? 


T: Roxy Music, For Your Pleasure. 
R: Wildfowers by Judy Collins. 


What was the first record you ever 
bought? And where did you buy it? 


T: T.Rex, Electric Warrior, Vicarage Road 
Records, Kings Heath, Birmingham. 

It cost about 12s/6d. still have it. 

R: My sister Patricia and me bought 
two 78s for our shared birthdays, April 
1957, at Poole Music Stores, Wimborne: 
Elvis Presley's Hound Dog and 
Tommy Steele's Singing The Blues. 


Which musician, other than your- 


ever bought? And where did you 
buy it? 

Moonshot by Buffy Sainte-Marie. 
Probably at Sam Goody's in New 
York City. | was in 4th grade, nine 
years old, and my homeroom teacher 
played it for us. | was astonished by 
the way she sang, and | loved the 
photo of her. 


Which musician, other than your- 
self, have you ever wanted to be? 


In my next life | would hope to come 
back as Bootsy Collins – a bass 
player that makes people get up 
and dance! 


What do you sing in the shower? 


| only ever sing in the shower before 
a show, so it's usually one of our 
songs as a warm-up. 


What is your favourite Saturday 
night record? 


The best thing to do is have dinner - 
with friends! – in our garden and 
listen to WJIB on the AM radio. WJIB 
is an eccentric hyper-local station, 
they play ‘Beautiful Music,’ which is 
an old American radio programming 
format, but | think actually means 
anything that the owner and sole 

DJ Bob Bittner finds beautiful. 
Cross-genre, cross-decades. 
Sometimes startling, but music you 
might never hear, might never have 
heard, or might have completely 
forgotten about... 


And your Sunday morning record? 


| adore Baden Powell's Solitude On 
Guitar – especially the track Marcia 
Eu Te Amo with Eberhard Weber's 
bass playing. 


Damon & Naomi With Kurihara's A Sky 
Record is out now on 20-20-20. 


Matthew E 
White 


What music are you currently 
grooving to? 

I'm listening to Madlib's Sound 
Ancestors, all the time. | think he has 
taken his craft to a special level in 
terms of musicality and music 
history. | just try to listen carefully 
to anything he does. Road Of The 
Lonely Ones is pretty good, but 
they're all good. | think it's awesome 
how they put it together. 


What, if push comes to shove, is 
your all-time favourite album? 


Marvin Gaye's What's Going On. It's 
maybe the best example of both 

an individual sonic and lyrical 
statement, but also the community's 
sound. think records like that are 
truly rare. It is a perfect storm. 

A culmination of a lot of cultural and 
community growth. For me that's 
about as good as it gets. 


What is the first record you ever 
bought? And where did you buy it? 


| think it was Pearl Jam's Ten and 

| bought it at a Tower Records in 
Tokyo. My family was living in Tokyo 
for a while. | used to go to Tower 


self, have you ever wanted to be? 


T: Tim Buckley, Carly Simon, Joni 
Mitchell, Bowie, Janis Joplin, Mick 
Jagger, Keith Moon, Jimi Hendrix, 
Michael Stipe, Eddie Vedder... 

R: It never occurred to me to be any- 
one else. 


What do you sing in the shower? 


T: My new repertoire. 
R: | don't sing in the shower. 


What is your favourite Saturday 
night record? 


T: Motown, Tina Turner or Elvis 
Presley. | need to dance. 
R: | don't play records Saturday night. 


And your Sunday morning record? 


T: Sibelius, Suite For Violin And Strings. 
R: English pastorales: Vaughan 
Williams, Gerald Finzi. Then a Hilary 
Hahn selection beginning with The 
Lark Ascending, on to Bernstein's 
Agathon, [and finally] violin concerti. 


Toyah's Posh Pop (Demon) is out August 27. 
Her Posh Pop tour begins in September. 








Records pretty much every weekend. 
There was a music store on top of it. 

| would sit there and play drums, 

and go to Tower Records. 


Which musician, other than your- 
self, have you ever wanted to be? 


Stevie Wonder probably. If | could 
just be anybody. 


What do you sing in the shower? 


A lot of the time | sing my own tunes 
to figure out if the melody works by 
itself and not just like with chords, 
or something. 


What is your favourite Saturday 
night record? 

Probably Kendrick Lamar's Good 
Kid M.A.A.D City. We play that record 
almost all the time, when we play a 
show, backstage. 


And your Sunday morning record? 
Jorge Ben's A Tábua de Esmeralda. 
It's really intelligent, but also has so 
much style to it. When | think about 
cruising around on a Sunday, going 
to the beach, | feel like that's pretty 
good accompaniment. 


Matthew E White's K Bay is out in 
September on Domino. 


MOJO 11 





Academic House, 
24-28 Oval Road 
London NW17DT 
Tel: 020 7437 9011 
Reader queries: mojoreaders@ 
bauermedia.co.uk 
Subscriber queries: bauer@ 
subscription.co.uk 
General e-mail: mojo@ 
bauermedia.co.uk 
Website: mojo4music.com 


Editor 
John Mulvey 


Senior Editor 
Danny Eccleston 


Art Editor 
Mark Wagstaff 


Associate Editor 
(Production) 
Geoff Brown 


Associate Editor 
(Reviews) 
Jenny Bulley 


Associate Editor 
(News) 
lan Harrison 


Deputy Art Editor 
Del Gentleman 


Picture Editor 
Matt Turner 


Senior Associate Editor 
Andrew Male 


Contributing Editors 
Phil Alexander, 
Keith Cameron, 
Sylvie Simmons 


Storytelling Executives 
James Allen, 
Celina Lloyd 


Thanks for their help with 
this issue: 
Keith Cameron, lan Whent. 


Among this month's 
contributors: 

James Allen, Martin Aston, 
John Aizlewood, Mark Blake, 
Mike Barnes, Glyn Brown, 
John Bungey, David Buckley, 
Keith Cameron, Stevie Chick, 
Andrew Collins, Andy Cowan, 
Max Decharné, Tom Doyle, 
David Fricke, Andy Fyfe, 
Pat Gilbert, David Hutcheon, 
Jim Irvin, Colin Irwin, 
Michael Jones, David Katz, 
Celina Lloyd, Andrew Male, 
James McNair, Bob Mehr, 
Lucy O'Brien, Andrew Perry, 
Clive Prior, Jon Savage, 
Victoria Segal, David Sheppard, 
Michael Simmons, Sylvie Simmons, 
Ben Thompson, Kieron Tyler, 
Charles Waring, Lois Wilson, 
Stephen Worthy. 




















Amongthis month's 
photographers: 
Cover: Camera Press/Nick Wilson; 
(insets) Olivia Jean, Getty 
Shawn Brackbill, Joe Dilworth, 
Russ Garrett, Lynn Goldsmith, 
Shaun Gordon, Nathan Keay, 
Heinrich Klaffs, Tom Oldham, 
Zoran Orlic, Perou, 
Andrew Phillips, Ken Regan, 
Derek Ridgers, Ray Stevenson. 


MOJO SUBSCRIPTION HOTLINE 


For subscription or back issue queries contact 
CDS Global on Bauer@subscription.co.uk 
To access from outside the UK 
Dial: +44 (0)185 8438884 





12 MOJO 


Theories, 
rants, etc. 


MOJO welcomes correspondence for publication. 
E-mail to: mojoreaders@bauermedia.co.uk 


UNLESS YOU SUPPORT WOLVERHAMPTON 


Wanderers, you might not feel you’ve much in common with Robert Plant, a rock icon 
from a time when we expected our heroes to be anything but relatable. But what’s 
immediately apparent from our interview with Plant this month is he’s very like a 
typical MOJO reader: insatiably curious about music; enthusiastic about sharing his 
latest discoveries; honest enough to understand that while he knows and loves a lot, 
there’s always something else worth hearing. 

MOJO joins Plant in the corner of a 15th century country pub, blasting North 
African electronica out of his phone. Later, he will talk candidly about how working 
with Alison Krauss revealed to him an enriching strain of American music that, in spite 
of his restless spirit of enquiry, he’d never previously explored. “I knew nothing about 


The Louvin Brothers,” he admits. 


Maybe you already know the Louvins well, and are schooled in some of the other 
musical worlds we explore this issue. The esoteric frenzies of Faust and Van Der Graaf 
Generator, say, or the devastating quietude of Low. Even the gems hiding in plain sight 
in Dylan’s much-maligned '80s catalogue. But this, in a way, is our mission: to find fresh 
stories and perspectives on the music that changed your life, and to point you towards a 
dozen new potential obsessions that might, in some small way, change it again. 


Happy hunting! 


JA 


JOHN MULVEY, EDITOR 


My old friend, this will 


be a night to remember 


The feature on Family [MOJO 333] took me back to 
my first Woodstock-style experience — the snappily 
titled Nottingham Festival of Blues and Progressive 
Music, from 12 noon to 10pm ona sunny afternoon 
in July 1970. As an impressionable 15-year-old, I 
saw Atomic Rooster, bopped along in the sunshine to 
In The Summertime from Mungo Jerry, and started 
a lifelong love affair with all things Stratocaster after 
seeing the mighty Rory Gallagher and ‘Taste. But it 
was Family who left their mark. Roger Chapman, 
clearly adequately refreshed, was spellbinding — a 
whirling dervish of flailing arms, mikestands and 
smashed tambourines, like a hippy Ian Curtis. That 
day Family joined Free and the Fabs in Day-Glo 
letters on my school jotter as my bands of choice. 
Crowded House were also memorable, maybe 
for not dissimilar reasons to the anarchic Chapman. 
I saw them in 1991 and by that time was married 
with children. When concerts were getting 
increasingly sanitised, corporate and safe, Neil Finn 
and his cohorts just put on a chaotically brilliant 
show. They managed to transform the concert 
hall to a small intimate club. They tried out half- 
written new songs, took requests, played covers, 





chatted and engaged with the audience, organised 
sing-alongs — all this underpinned by those great 
swooping Neil Finn pop standards. They were also 
hilariously funny, particularly the sadly missed Paul 
Hester. It was a great night out just for the anarchy 
and sheer abandonment of it all — not words you'd 
automatically associate with Crowded House. 


Garry Perkins, Lambley, Notts 


... I was particularly interested in your pieces 

on Crowded House and Family. Personally, I feel 
that the best albums that Neil and Tim have been 
involved with are the orchestral/Split Enz album 
Enzso (1996) and Everyone Is Here (2004) by The 
Finn Brothers. Shortly after the latter's release, my 
wife and I encountered Neil standing on the crest 
of a bridge in Venice — we resisted the temptation 
to gush about it to him because he was clearly so 
absorbed by taking in the splendour of the scene. 

I saw Crowded House at Leicester's De Montfort 
Hall and, looking back, it's amazing that Paul Hester 
lasted as long as he did, because at one point, he 
decided to trot along the balcony rail balancing like 
a tightrope walker. I was also at a memorable gig by 
Split Enz at Leicester Poly where a few vears earlier, 
I'd seen Family's last-ever show. These concerts rank 
amongst the best I’ve ever attended. Incidentally, I 


also saw the pre-Chappo Farinas at a local youth 
club around ’65 fora shilling at the door. 
lan Roberts, Leicester 


Much that once was, is lost 


I had noticed that Fred Dellar’s by-line had 
disappeared from the Ask... feature some months 
ago, so very sad to hear that he's no longer with 

us [MOJO 333]. Like everyone else, I've greatly 
enjoyed the page, and it's good to see it continuing — 
a worthy tribute. Fred was very kind with the couple 
of queries I posited, and apologetic when stumped 
by them. I'm going to resubmit them to the new 
team, as Га still like to know the answers, and I’m 
sure if Fred's looking in from somewhere in the 
great beyond he'll be interested in the answers too. 


Rob Kirby, Hitchin 


May it be your light in 
the darkness, when all 


other lights go out 
Great article on The Hollies [MOJO 334] — and long 


overdue. I only recently discovered their 1966 album 
For Certain Because. .., which for me deserves to be 
up there in the best pop albums of the '60s. The 
Hollies were starting to stretch out and take risks, 
undoubtedly swept up in the quest for new sounds 
and new approaches to pop. Graham Nash has to 

be credited with pushing The Hollies out of their 
comfort zone, but I’m sure all the band were involved 
in trying to keep up with the rapid changes in pop 

at the time. Their first psychedelic album, Evolution, 
is an interesting period piece, but apart from a few 
tracks, it's a bit of a folly. They never really suited that 
marmalade skies and elephant's eyes phase in music. 
The album Butterfly, which again has some good 
tracks, only confirms that The Hollies were right 

to abandon this direction. Finally, can I just say that 
Allan Clarke is a great singer; underrated and very 
versatile. He could sing anything convincingly. 


Wilfred Appleseed, via e-mail 








... Thank you for a great article on The Hollies in 
MOJO 334. A fabulous group who perhaps don't 
always get the plaudits they deserve. They recorded 
a wonderful song Wings, just before Graham left, 
which was included on the charity LP No One's 
Gonna Change Our World. 


Sean Connolly, via e-mail 


What is this new devilry? 


Revisionism runs rampant! I'm sorry, I just don't 
buy his son's claim that George Harrison didn't 

like reverb [MOJO 333]. In 1970, at any rate. After 
Wonderwall and Electric Sounds, All Things Must Pass 
was George's first solo effort. He was photographed 
smiling with Spector with the tape of the album. 
Unsurprisingly, the latter's production is outstanding. 
When I bought it on its release, I thought it a flawed 
masterpiece. The flaw? That awful cacophony of a 






NEWSSTAND 








AND GET MOJO DELIVERED 
FREE TO YOUR DOOR 
WHEN YOU SUBSCRIBE! 


SAVE MONEY ON i 4 








third disc. Apple Jams — an aural nightmare, wholly 
unnecessary. George could have made fundamental 
revisions — he had plenty of time and his own studio 
— in 2001, on its re-release. He only did it for My 
Sweet Lord. And which was the better? Spector’s 
original production of My Sweet Lord — no question. 


Michael Solan, Chester Le Street 





You need people of 
intelligence on this sort 


of mission... quest... thing 


Regarding the movie quotes in MOJO 333 
(Theories, Rants, Etc.), I believe they are from 
Quantum Of Solace, the second Daniel Craig 007 
adventure. Good choice as it ties in nicely with cover 
star Amy Winehouse, who recorded a demo track 
for the film with Mark Ronson. Congrats on another 
fine issue. Keep 'em coming. 


Mohammad Rahman, Uxbridge 








It is a strange fate that we 
should suffer so much fear and 
doubt over so small a thing 


Would you agree that it's time for a reappraisal of 
Mike Nesmith's 1968 masterpiece, The Wichita 
Irain Whistle Sings? I first heard this terrific concept 
album after my father brought a copy back from the 
States in that year and it's fascinated and delighted 
me ever since. It never really troubled the Billboard 
scorers at the time (not even reaching the Top 100) 
where, perhaps, the listening public weren't quite 
ready yet for ‘serious’ music from a Monkee! We're 
now 50-plus years on from that and, I would politely 
suggest, high time for a re-evaluation of Nesmith's 
(ably assisted by “Тһе Wrecking Crew’) meister werk. 
Peter Bowler, Loughton 


Not the beard! 


I'd like to raise my 10-gallon hat and say a massive 
thank you to David Fricke for his outstanding 
interview with Billy F Gibbons [MOJO 333]. The 
experiences provided by Billy's musical director 
dad and sitting in on a session with BB King were 
no doubt profound moments that would shape the 
future he would take, though I would suggest that 
the greatest impact was provided quite simply by 
his family's housekeeper, Stella Matthews. I have 
no doubt that the education provided by Stella 
and Billy’s discovery of grassroots blues artists in 
venues such as Houston's Fourth Ward cemented 
his destiny. It was also fantastic to read how even 
after 50 years Billy maintains the love of writing 
songs, and how this has resulted in his incredible 
solo record Hardware. It's interesting that whilst this 
record deviates from Billy's blues focus to a more 
surf-rock vibe, he has clearly been keen to maintain 
a close connection to ZZ Top through the album's 
Ford Coupe Eliminator-style artwork. 

Craig Isherwood, Poulton Le Fylde 








— SUBSCRIBE 
RIGHT NOW! 
And you'll get M0JO 
delivered direct to 
» your door. See page 
ma 32 for full details... 










Head of Magazine Media 
Clare Chamberlain 
MD Bauer Media Advertising 
Simon Kilby 
Head Of Magazine Brands 
Anu Short 
Brand Director Joel Stephan 
Sales Operations Co-ordinator 
Thomas Ward 
Regional Advertising Katie Kendall 
Classified Sales Executive 
Max Garwood 
Classified Sales Manager Ben Peck 
Inserts Manager Simon Buckenham 
Production Manager 
Carl Lawrence 
Sales Operations Executive, 
BMA Finance Helen Mear 


President, Bauer Media Publishing 
Rob Munro-Hall 
EA to President Vicky Meadows 


CEO of Bauer Publishing UK 
Chris Duncan 
Chief Financial Officer, Bauer 
Magazine Media Lisa Hayden 
EA to CEO and CFO Stacey Thomas 
Group MD Women’s Mass & Celebrity, 
Premium and Entertainment 
Helen Morris 
Publisher, Premium and 
Entertainment 
Lauren Holleyoake 


PAto Group MD and Publisher 
Elisha Thomas 
Commercial Marketing Director 
Liz Martin 
Managing Editor Linda Steventon 
MOJO CD and Honours Creative 
Director Dave Henderson 
Senior Events Producer 
Marguerite Peck 
Business Analyst 
Alison Bennett 
Marketing Manager Philippa Turner 
Direct Marketing Manager Julie Spires 
Direct Marketing Executive 
Raheema Rahim 
Communications Director Jess Blake 


Printing: William Gibbons 
MOJO (ISSN 1351-0193; USPS 17424) is published 
12timesa year by H Bauer Publishing Ltd, Media 
House, Peterborough Business Park, Lynch Wood, 
Peterborough PE2 6EA, United Kingdom. Н Bauer 
Publishingisa company registered in England 
and Wales with company number LP003328, 
registered address Academic House, 
24-28 Oval Road, London NW1 707. 
VATno918561701. 

TheUS annual subscription priceis $114.98. 
Airfreight and mailing in the USA by agent named 
World Container Inc, 150-15, 183rd Street, 
Jamaica, NY 11413, USA. 
Periodicals postage paid at Brooklyn, NY 11256. 
US Postmaster: Send address changes to MOJO, 
World Container Inc, 150-15, 183rd Street, 
Jamaica, NY 11413, USA. 
Subscription records are maintained at H Bauer, 
Subscriptions, CDS Global, Tower House, Sovereign 
Park, Lathkill Street, Market Harborough, 
Leicester LE16 9EF, United Kingdom. 

Air Business Ltd is acting as our mailing agent. 
For subscription or back issue queries, please 
contact CDS Global on Bauer@subscription.co.uk 
Phone from the UK 0n01858 43 8884. Phone from 
overseas on +44 (0)1858 43 8884. For enquires 
on overseas newsstand sales 
e-mail Paul. Maher@seymour.co.uk 
© All material published is copyright of H Bauer 
Publishing. No partofthis magazine may be 
reproduced without the prior permission 
ofthe publisher. MOJO accepts no responsibility 
for any unsolicited material. For syndication enquiries 
go to: syndication@bauermedia.co.uk 
Н Bauer Publishing is authorised and regulated by the 
FCA (Ref No. 845898) and (RefNo. 710067) 
Tofind out more about whereto buy MOJO, contact 
Frontline Ltd, at 1st Floor, Stuart House, St Johns Street, 
Peterborough РЕТ SDD. Tel: 01733 555161. 


COMPLAINTS: H Bauer Publishing isa member ofthe 
Independent Press Standards Organisation 
(www.ipso.co.uk) and endeavours to respond to 
and resolve your concerns quickly. 

Our Editorial Complaints Policy (including full details 
ofhow to contact us about editorial complaints 
and IPSO's contact details) can be found at 
www.bauermediacomplaints.co.uk. Our e mail address for 
editorial complaints covered by the Editorial Complaints 
Policy is complaints@bauermedia.co.uk. 





Mit вате фы ы rei pide il 





(ipso. Regulated 


MOJO 13 


% 








WHAT GOES ОМ! 








You gotta serve somebody: Jack 
White prepares to welcome UK 
customers into his new Third 


Man boutique; (insets) the 
store’s frontage and ‘disguise’. 





























" £z E E & E LE = | № 
= г і — 1. 





pen For 
hite Goods 





UMBER ONE Marshall Street, located off London’s 
traditionally swinging Carnaby Street, was apparently gripped 
by identity crises during its recent refit, a different business 
blazoned across the frontage every couple of weeks: Absurd Scam 
Records, Harry Lime’s Penicillin, Jack Sharp’s Upholstery Tacks... 

Each one, however, slyly pointed to the enterprise’s true nature: 
the London branch of Third Man Records, the label — and later shop 
— founded by Jack White in 2001. “We could have just put up black 
wood,” laughs White, “but people who’d maybe walk past on their 
way to work wondering what the heck was going on, that was 
interesting to us.” 

Opening in September, it is Third Man’s third commercial outpost 
after Nashville and Detroit, and it arrives with a strong identity “very 
much in the design world of Third Man Records,” explains trained 
upholsterer White, whose new website Jack White Art And Design 
further emphasises his hands-on creative approach (highlights 
include the refurbishment of a Sam Phillips Recording Studio 
couch and a bowling alley). 

The “easy thing” to do, he tells MOJO, would be “curate and sell 
things we are interested in — a Criterion collection kind of thing. But 
Third Man has only ever sold the things we produce and we're part of. 
You're coming into our world when you walk into it. But it's inviting 
— there's not a hipster snobbery to it all. Our whole point is to try to 
turn people onto something they don't know about." 

Long before “people were trying to make Instagram-friendly 
backgrounds", White believed in the 360-degree 
experience. zi like the idea of being able to at least buy 
bubblegum from a vending machine. There has to be 
something I can do with my hands." He lists some of the 
store's interactive highlights: a fully functional vinyl 
recording booth; a “cool phone booth" created by 
Teenage Engineer ing where music can be made; a small 
basement club (“on the stage, } vou'll be able to g po and play 
through all the Third Man cffects pedals and synthesiz- 

ers.”) It's her 'e where White hopes to perform at the 
launch — core: we can also stream that pe гюгтапсе 
out.” There's also plans to collaborate with pandemic-hit 
Soho venues “now we’re coming into their house”. 

Originally White’s “own world”, the Third Man 
concept has evolved after 750 releases. “The less and 
less it has to do with me and the more and more it has 
to do with this hive of creative people and other bands, 
the happier I am,” says White. Yet as always 
with White, it retains a distinctive edge. 

He was drawn to Soho's musical heritage — 
“beatnik culture, the Marquee club” — but 
mention Apple Records HQ, once a few 
minutes away at 3 Savile Row. and he sets 
out his own stall. 

“In the first couple of years of Third Man, 
my favourite thing Was people e would come in 
and somebody would say, ‘Oh, this is like Sun 
Records" he says. “Then the next person 
would come in and say, 'Oh this is like The 
Beatles' Apple Records.’ Then somebody 
would come in and say, “Оһ, this is like Prince’s 
Paisle y Park. And eve ntually y pe ople stopped 

saying that, and it was like, ‘Oh — this is Third 
Man Rec onde "m 











Victoria Segal 
Third Man Records’ London HQ opens on September 25. 


See also jackwhi teartanddesign.com 


Olivia Jean 


MOJO 15 













6 6 T HERE ARE absolutely no 
flowery overdubs," declares 
Small Faces drummer Kenney 
Jones. *What you hear is exactly how it was, 
exactly as we performed the show... for 
me, it's like going back in time listening 
to this record." 
He's talking about Small Faces — Live 1966, 
a remastered, restored and official issue of 
the earliest known recorded gig by his first 
group. The two good and screamy sets at the 
Twenty Club in Mouscron, Belgium were 
taped by the venue, without the band's 
knowledge, on January 9, 1966. At a time 
when the group were being worked hard by 
manager Don Arden, they're on fiery form, 
with bassist Ronnie Lane singing R&B 
standby Ooh Poo Pah Doo, a medley of 
Booker T.s Plum Nellie, Baby Please Don't 
Go and Parchman Farm, and, uncannily 
predating Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love, 
vocalist/ guitarist Steve Marriott and Lane's 
You Need Loving. *This gig is really what the 
Small Faces were all about,” says Kenney. 


“We absolutely loved playing together.” 


LAUNCHES 
NICE RECORDS WITHA 
SMALL FACES ’66 LIVE LP! 
(AND A FACES REUNION?) 


SS Nice work: peak Small Faces (from 
~ left) Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones, 
___ Steve Marriott, lan McLagan; 
(right) ace Faces (from left) 
Ronnie Wood, Jones, Rod 
Stewart; (below) the new 
Live - 1966 sleeve art. 


oP ту д 
Ы here 








F 


It’s the first release on Jones’s new label, 
Nice Records, which promises further Small 
Faces releases culled from his attic archive 
and elsewhere, plus other associated acts. 
“I made sure I got a copy of whatever I 
recorded at the end of each session, whether 
that be a back-up tape, a 
finished or unfinished mix,” 
says Jones. “I got a lot of tapes. 

[Small Faces archivist and Nice 
Records collaborator] Rob 
Caiger was pretty surprised 
when he saw exactly what I 

had tucked away.” 

Another reason, he says, 
is the EU law on copyright, a 
“use it or lose it” proposition 
involving a 50-year rule which 
arguably emboldens bootleg- 

ers. “For once, everybody 
around this label is doing it 
for the right reasons,” he says. 
“I’m pleased that the royalties 
will be handled in the correct 
way — they haven't been in the 





© TWENTY 


Créateurs de WATCHA GONNA DO 


" _ MOUSCRON 
Ce dimanche à 15 h. GALA avec les 


SMALL FACES 


past. Ав for the ‘use it or lose it’ 
rule — I consider it to be theft. 
People saying we can put records 
of your material out whether you 
like it or not — bollocks, you can’t! 

“It’s in our interest 
to try and look after 
our own catalogue 
now,” he adds, 
referring to the sharp 
practices suffered by 
many groups in the 
608. “If people want 
to waste their money 
on inferior product 
[bootlegs], then that is 
down to them. All of 
our records will be 
quality items, the 
absolute best we can make them. We’ve got 
some great stuff planned, stuff by other 
artists with a similar mindset. That’s why 
I love the name Nice Records. It’s nice to 
listen to nice things.” 

And MOJO must ask: can Jones comment 
on Ronnie Wood’s announce- 
ment to The Times that the 
Faces are recording their first 
album since 1973? (“Me, Rod 
[Stewart], and Kenney have 
been recording some new 
Faces music,” said Ronnie). 
“We’ve been trying to celebrate 
our 50th anniversary these 
past few years,” Kenney says, 
enigmatically. ^We're already 
a few years behind now thanks 
to the pandemic!” 














lan Harrison 


Small Faces — Live 1966 is available 
on CD from September 3, and a 
limited coloured vinyl edition will 
follow in November. For more info 
see www.thesmallfaces.com 


GIMME FIVE... GAMBLING SONGS 


The Pioneers 


(BRONZE, 1980) 


Motorhead 


Camper Van 
Beethoven 


Howard Tate 


(TBF, 1986) 


Future World 
Orchestra 


Alamy, Mirrorpix, Nice Records 


16 MOJO 


(TROJAN, 1969) 
| A bet on atthe 
& X gee-gees and 
ElÎ the horse only 
Й goes and dies 
before the 
finish line? Ouch! Spookily, 
this racing-minded Kingston 
trio also recorded Poor 
Rameses about a horse who, 
bizarrely, expired the same 
day in 1969 as Long Shot. 


Se Where 
vil d indifferent- 
about-winning 
сэу Lemmy piles 
A ® onallthe 
card-playing clichés atop a 
bathtub crank metal-thrash 
the whole family can enjoy. 
See also Dean Martin's Five 
Card Stud, Clara Morris' Poker 
Playing Daddy and Laurie 
Johnson's Stick Or Twist. 


(VIRGIN, 1989) 
E On their last 

. record before 
jacking it in, 
the California 

ны > college rockers 

tell a cautionary tale of a 

born loser, redneck America 

and free cash. More lucky 

numbers on Free Money 

by Patti Smith and Nilsson's 

line Hotter, SONIC 


The 605 R&B 
а hitmaker turns 
on the drum 
machine and 
i gets excited 
about going to Atlantic 
City and playing the slots. 
Tenpole Tudor's Three Bells 
In A Row, and, of course, 
Elvis's Viva Las Vegas also 
big up spending all your cash 
onthe noble fruit machine. 


a FRI bet 


ва itè 
i 





(DURECO BENELUX, 1983) 
fo get, The Dutch 
ШІ 8 ourde France 

EN soundtrackers 
4. get JM Jarre-y 
PE thinking about 

placed bets and spinning 

wheels. Also in the casino 

zone are Kraftwerk, whose 

Elektrisches Roulette is 

played by long-haired 

showroom dummies. 











20D DELUXE 


Cenau Sg 
Em 
" 


ШЕШ 3,55:2е:4-азстзнсы-. 


ILIINI 
@@@@@ бр 
өш T. 










pa Әзір 
— 5 
ф b st 
ы, E 
eae Be | чы 
аты и " 

[ 

% 





ылы, 3% 
Ф о ее 
TTT IMI ii CO 
000060 000000 000 
ов * & 


SEPTEMBER 
NEVER BEFORE RELEASED 


From the most memorable captivating 
performances during the 
summer of 1970. 


ALSO AVAILABLE ON LIMITED EDITION LP AND CASSETTE 





alee 
| Жү i Jui Hist 
eyes МА510009070 


hmvcom DISTRIBUTED BY е) 


PRE-ORDER NOW * OUT 24TH SEPT 2021  amazoncouk 











 МОЈО WO 


е.” 


0 





RKING 





| 


EMBRACES THE DRUM 
MACHINE, DISCOVERS 
ARTHUR RUSSELL ON LP 3 


OURTNEY BARNETT's new album, 
( says promotional materials, marks the 

debut of "Courtney 2.0". The Sydney 
singer-songwriter gives a characteristically 
wry chuckle. "Um, that's not how I'd put it,” 
she says. "I thinkthat was someone else from 
‘Team Courtney.’ Things Take Time, Take Time 
is just an extension of the same thing I’ve 
always been doing.” 


ALSO WORKING 






...in November, own solo set The Nearer The also recording new music .. 
releases Fountain, More Pure The ex- voices 

The Solution Is Restless, | Stream Flows arrives in (and stars of the Summer 

a collaborative album 9 | November. Started as Of Soul movie) Marilyn 

with the late Tony қ M an Iceland-inspired McCoo and Billy 


Allen and Dave 

Okumu of The Invisible. 
She was introduced to 
Allen in Paris in 2019 by 
Damon Albarn (right). 
"We hit it off,” she says, “and 
decided to record together... we 
improvised all night. When the world 


s ЕР | 
Р = | 
“ 
f 





Dave J Hogan, Getty 


18 MOJO 


Ғ theemotional ebb 

and flow of the human 
condition" ... 

The Zealot Gene, the group's first 
album since 2003, will be released 












Taking her time: 
Courtney Barnett, 
creating an energy. 


Title: Things Take 
Time, Take Time 
Due: November 12 
Songs: Rae Street, 
Sunfair Sundown, 

| Turning Green, 
Before You Gotta Go 
The Buzz: “We 
were brainstorming 
inthestudio, 
turning songs 
upside down and 
inside out, rejecting 
anythingthat 
sounded too much 
like stuff I'd done 
before. It wasa 
great, great 
process." 

















Yet Barnett's third full-length solo LP rings 
some changes nevertheless. The musicians 
who backed her on her acclaimed first two 
albums are absent this time around. Standard 
guitar/bass/drums paradigm upended, 
Barnett divided instrumental duties between 
herself and the album's producer, Warpaint 
drummer Stella Mozgawa, who first worked 
with Barnett on her collaborative album with 


shut down, | used those recordings to early next year... 
WME SECO ss 5 апа 


orchestral work and 
developed over lock- 
down, it “documents 


Davis Jr аге working 
onan expanded 
version of their recent 
Lennon & McCartney 
covers set, Blackbird ... 









S release The Quest, their first LP 
since 2014 and the death of Chris 
Squire, in October. With sleeve art by 


Kurt Vile, 2017's Lotta Sea Lice. "Since then, l've 
really wanted to work with Stella on some- 
thing,” Barnett says. “When | started work on 
the new record, | was sending her new demos 
and getting her opinion on prospective 
producers and mixers. And then | realised 
that really | just wanted to work with her." 

Saluting Mozgawa as "an amazing 
musician", Barnett recalls, ^we spent the 
sessions swapping instruments, and sharing 
records that we liked. | discovered alot of new 
influences working with her, like Kraftwerk, 
Sly & The Family Stone and Arthur Russell. I'd 
never even heard of Arthur Russell before." 

These new influences can be heard in 
Things Take Time, Take Time's loose approach 
and fondness for drum machines. "| write with 
drum machines at home - they're great for 
knocking up quick demos in 20 minutes," 
Barnett says. “This time, | wanted to keep 
them on the songs, rather than editing them 
out. Alotofthese new songs are quite calm, 
and the drum machines helped create this 
repetitive, meditative energy." 

Australia's strict response to the pandemic 
kicked in after Barnett began work on the 
new album in late 2019, and she found herself 
“locked down in a flat in Melbourne by myself, 
writing all the time because | didn't know 
what else to do." Lockdown also limited her 
choice of studio, though Sydney's Golden 
Retriever quickly proved a godsend. "It had a 
really big live room, lots of beautiful analogue 
gear, and lots of instruments, which was great 
as l'd only brought my guitar with me." 

Over two five-day stints at Golden 
Retriever in early 2021, Barnett and Mozgawa 
juggled instruments, pulling Barnett's new 
songs apart and reassembling them in new 
forms 'til late in the night, "experimenting 
until they felt right. l'm constantly baffled by 
the songwriting and recording process -and | 
thinkthat's good! To be constantly unsure, to 
be always learning and second-guessing... 
I've come to trust in that process of hitting a 
wall and experiencing feelings of failure, 
because | know now it'll result in this gut 
feeling that l've found the right vision. It's a 
beautiful satisfaction. Also, it's a lot of fun." 

Stevie Chick 


Roger Dean, guitarist Steve Howe 
are calls it, "a well-refined set of songs 
that capture the band'strue 
potential”... 665 
(left) The Million Things 
That Never Happened is 
due in October. Billed 
asa “pandemic blues 
album’, it was produced 
by Magic Numbers’ 
Romeo Stodart and 
Dave Izumi: songs 
include Freedom Doesn't 
Come For Free and The Buck 
Doesntotop Herce юте 










QUEEN. M0OJO'S FINEST WRITERS. 
THE FULL STORY. IN TWO DELUXE VOLUMES. 









MOJO 1HE COLLECTORS ІШІН Т 


a 
si v Cy ы” k . =F e Р 
m is a= i J L 





| 
“ 
Р а 
rds A 
^ А 
i Fr 
| a 
LI i Ч , | 1 
% L| 4 
| 1 
d 
hi 


The Magic Years.Thé Finest Writers. The Full Story. 


AVAILABLE NOW! 


99 US 515.99 CAN 516 95 
| ІІ | | 11 
|| Ё ! | 

"75E 15 AT 40 44 


| 
al 


Buy online at greatmagazines.co.uk/mojo-specials 


The First Lady of 
Rockabilly: Wanda 
Jackson, plotting 
her next route. 


WANDA JACKSON 


Emma Lee 


album,” says Wanda Jackson on 
the line from Oklahoma City. “1 
don’t foresee wanting to continue any longer, 
cos I retired from travelling a couple of years 
ago. I miss my fans, I miss performing, but 
I don’t miss the travel...” 

The excellent LP in question is called 
Encore, released a mere 67 years after she 
began cutting records for Decca in 1954. 

A year later, she was touring with — and 
dating — Elvis Presley, who told her she 
had the perfect voice for rock’n’roll. 

It is also her first album since she lost the 
man who travelled that road alongside her 
for 55 of those years, her husband and 
manager Wendell Goodman, who sadly 
died in 2017, and whose presence is felt 
in many of its songs. 


6 6 T HIS PROBABLY will be my last 








You'veinfluenced many 
women musicians who 
followed after. Joan Jettis 
on your new album, and 
itincludes a version of 

You Drive Me Wild, which 
she wrote for The Runaways 
in 1976 


| think it’s just great. Her 
company is the one that 
approached me about doing 
an album, so she helped me 
get it started, and of course 
we wanted just to have 


20 MOJO 





S 


| 
| Jackson’s 
Five Faves 





Joan Jett You street clothes as well as stage 
ао lothes. They fitted me like a gl 
(FROM GREATEST HITS, IVES LS UREA E URE A GIOVE 
BLACKHEART, 2010) and it was very valuable to me. Even 
Ray Charles these days, that wardrobe is about 
original songs on it. My grand- Worried Mind | 7a 
daughter is my publicist in Nashville NS ое 
y 0 ЕТЕ IG given alittle flack for it, here and 
and she set up all these writing ABCPARAMOUNT, 1962) 
; . ТРИТЕ оп there, but anyway, my daddy was 
sessions with all these great writers ы 5 
В | | Right Or Wrong the one who said, “Do it the way 
in Nashville, so that’s anew (INGLE, CAPITOL. 1961) M 
| ; you want to do it.” So he gave те 
experience for me. I’ve never Hank Thompson permission. | was kind of a rebel 
written with other people, | was Шашы 
always by myself, so I learned a lot. HowGreatThou Art | |n youracceptance speech at 


We wrote the songs, as well as 
recorded them, in Nashville. | had to 
fly back and forth, and trying to coordinate 
all of our schedules was tricky, but we got 
it done, and l'm sure proud of it. 


Joan’s song was on thelist you gave us 

of five songs you admire, alongside the 
great Ray Charles version of Worried Mind, 
originally a hit for its co-writer Теа Daffan 
inthe’40s, backin the golden age of 

honky tonk music. 


Well that’s what my daddy listened to, and 

my mother, on the radio. They went dancing 

every weekend, and they took me with them, 
so yes, | knew Ted Daffan's 
version the best. But of course 
when Ray Charles came out 
with it, it just blew me away, 
it was so great. 


Your fiddle-playing father 
bought you your Martin 
D18 guitarin a pawn shop, 
and your mother made your 
fringed stage dress. Both 
items are on display atthe 
Rockand Roll Hall of Fame. 


That's right. Yeah, my career 
was really a family affair. 
Mother made all my clothes, 


(HYMN, 1886) 


your Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 
induction in 2009, you said that 
your mother was watching, aged 95. 


It was very special. She died a couple of 
years later, she was 97, so bless her heart, 
she outlived daddy by a long time. 


Your husband Wendell led the campaign 
to have you inducted, supported by such 
as Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Costello. І 
remember him saying when introducing you 
on-stage in London, “At first I thought, Just 
what! needed, another Elvis in my life..." 


That was funny. My husband was a clown, he 
was my resident clown. All of these lyrics on 
the record stem from the stories of mine and 
Wendell's married life. He was a one-man 
show. He did it all, all but the singing, sol 

still had a job... 


Tell us something you've nevertold an 
interviewer before 


(Laughing) | don't think that exists... unless 
you want to know what | had for breakfast. 
Actually, | haven't had it yet. | thought I'd have 
a cup of coffee and talk to you and then I'd 
have my oatmeal and my cinnamon. 

Max Décharné 


Encore is released on August 20 via Big Machine 
Records/Blackheart Records. 


ALTTICKETS.COM | FB.COM/ALTTICKETS | ®ALTTICKETS 











| AUGUST ж 
() K 28 / MARGATE DREAMLAND “NEW SHOW" 
TOUR 2021 31 / BRISTOL O2 ACADEMY *NEW SHOW 
SEPTEMBER UK Tour October 2021 
02 / PLYMOUTH PAVILIONS 
03 / BOURNEMOUTH WINDSOR HALL 02 Academy Bristol 
04 / BRIGHTON CENTRE ЕТУІН 
06 / GLASGOW BARROWLAND Бтр Rock City Nottingham 
07 / EDINBURGH USHER HALL 
09 / MANCHESTER O2 VICTORIA WAREHOUSE Albert Hall Manchester 
10 / CARDIFF MOTORPOINT ARENA 
13 / HULL BONUS ARENA | | 
14 / BLACKPOOL EMPRESS BALLROOM ТЕ P i ee 
46 / BIRMINGHAM 02 ACADEMY Boiler Shop Newcastle 
17 / NOTTINGHAM MOTORPOINT ARENA | Barrowland Ballroom Glasaow 
18 / DONCASTER THE DOME кла go 
20 / NEWCASTLE O2 CITY HALL ty PE ai: 
HALK ton 

21 / READING RIVERMEAD *NEW SHOW* С К Brighto 
23 / LONDON ROUNDHOUSE Bale KK’S Steel Mill Wolverhampton 
24 / LONDON ROUNDHOUSE 
EXTRA DATE ADDED DUE TO PUBLIC DEMAND O2 Kentish Town Forum London 
25 / LONDON TROXY *NEW SHOW* 

FUNLOVINCRIMINALS.CO 

ALTTICKETS.COM | TICKETMASTER.CO.UK SEETICKETS.GOM 
A ОНР & CROSSTOWN PRESENTATION BY ARRANGEMENT WITH K-RAY ш "NEL 
@ 0 


QUEEN LEGEND ROGER TAYLOR LIVE 
AND UPFRONT IN GONCERT. 
QUEEN CLASSICS AND BEST OF SOLO TRACKS. 
DHP IN ASSOCIATION WITH PHIL MCINTYRE LIVE 
AND NEIL O'BRIEN ENTERTAINMENT 
PRESENT 








TOUR 2022 


OUTSIDER TOUR 92091 


| | | I" | 02 OCTOBER NEWCASTLE O2 ACADEMY 
| | ah | | 03 OCTOBER MANCHESTER ACADEMY 


05 OCTOBER YORK BARBICAN 


WITH SPECIAL GUESTS 


je FEBRUARY 06 OCTOBER CARDIFF ST DAVID’S HALL 

A | v | | 08 OCTOBER LIVERPOOL O2 ACADEMY 
Б . 15 MANCHESTER O2 VICTORIA WAREHOUSE 709 OCTOBER NORWICH 
Eo 16 NEWCASTLE O2 CITY HALL UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA 

| paese 11 OCTOBER BATH FORUM 

22 GLASGOW THE SSE HYDRO 12 OCTOBER BOURNEMOUTH О? ACADEMY 
^2 £ | | ENA 14 OCTOBER PLYMOUTH PAVILIONS 
, 23 CARDIFF MOTORPOINT ARENA 15 OCTOBER NOTTINGHAM ROCK CITY 
24 BRIGHTON CENTRE 17 OCTOBER BEXHILL DE LA WARR PAVILION 
25 BIRMINGHAM O2 ACADEMY 19 OCTOBER GUILDFORD G LIVE 


26 LONDON THE SSE ARENA, WEMBLEY 20 OCTOBER HMV COVENTRY EMPIRE 


22 OCTOBER LONDON O2 
A DHP AND TRIPLE G MUSIC PRESENTATION BY SHEPHERD'S BUSH EMPIRE 
ARRANGEMENT WITH PRIMARY TALENT INTERNATIONAL 


DROPKICKMURPHYS.COM Ei Ww ED @DROPKICKMURPHYS TICKETS AVAILABLE FROM 
АІТТІСКЕТЅ СОМ С.ү ее», || ROGER TAY LOROFFICIAL.COM 





ALTTICKETS.COM | FB.COM/ALTTICKETS | @ALTTICKETS 


main) Jonny T; 
his reissue of 
The Wicker Man 


R Trunk route: 
i (clockwise from 


Janet Beat. 





m "бк 
TRU 
BOSS 





OST; new signing 


NK RECORDS TURN 
TALKS THE 
WICKER MAN, PATIENCE 

















PE 


m. е Ё, | 
25! 
О 





AND SONIC ERUPTIONS 


making records that I needed to own 

which weren’t issued on vinyl,” says 
Jonny Trunk of the bespoke independent 
reissue label that bears his name. “But 25 
years? I never intended that!” 

The Super Sounds Of Bosworth, a trailblazing 
selection of '60s and "70s library music, set 
out the stall in 1996. To most, it was their 
first exposure to advert cues — outside of 
watching adverts — and recast background 
sounds-with-an-agenda as a genre worthy of 
appreciation. Selections were strange, funky, 
eerie, nostalgic, comedic, naff, utilitarian, 
familiar yet unknown, and fascinating — just 
as Irunk itself would prove to be. 

The son of an antiques dealer, the young 
Jonny had been a teenager in late "70s Surrey, 
liked old films and music, and was not alone 
in never shaking off the grubby prurience 
and futurist aspirations of the era. Trunk’s 
next big release was the first ever issue of the 
OST for 1973 British horror classic The 
Wicker Man in 1998. “It took three years, 

a weekly process of going, ‘Who can I phone 
now?"" says Trunk. “It was detective work, 
which I love. You have to be really deter- 
mined and patient to do this. I think quite 

a lot of people would’ve given up with The 
Wicker Man and said they couldn’t be arsed.” 

The timing of The Wicker Man OST was 
curious: the still-reverberating acid/pagan 
folk revival followed soon 
after. “All we did was light 
the touch paper,” says Trunk. 

“But it is everywhere now.” 
Other threads can also be 
traced back to Trunk’s 
releases, as library music, 
Radiophonic experiments 


and old kids’ TV sounds bled 
into Hauntology; a 2011 


6 6 | T WAS first imagined as a way of 


22 MOJO 


book of 1972-1977 Sainsbury’s packaging 
even seems to have filtered back into the 
design of Waitrose’s own-brand range. 
“Some things I do can have a seismic effect 
years later,” he says. "I see it, but hardly 
anybody knows, which is quite nice really." 

Lust for glory, it seems, is not the Trunk 
way. Only a one-man show could have 
orchestrated a quarter of a century of the 
most slept-on movie soundtracks, askew jazz, 
TV themes, home-made space operas, 
recordings of railway buffet car announce- 
ments and lashings of audio-smut, not to 
mention archival treasures from Basil 
Kirchin, Delia Derbyshire and now — the 
latest Trunk discovery — 84-year-old 
electroacoustic maverick Janet Beat. Or his 
long-running soundtracks radio show, ‘Pop 
Trumps' card games and, lest we forget, 
2007's brisk Number 27 hit The Ladies’ Bras 
with voice artist Duncan Wisbey (*One day, 
someone will use that in a bra advert, or on 
Tik Tok,” says Jonny). 

“I think, you know, things have to Бе 
done a certain way," explains Trunk, who 
admits to owning Beatles and Rolling Stones 
records as well as deep esoterica. “I’ve not 
run out of things to do yet, and if it isn't fun I 
don't want to do it. It's got to entertain me." 

One record he's currently planning will 
present incidental music from Hanna-Barbera 
cartoons. "If I can get this, it will cause 

eruptions," Jonny promises 
MOJO. “Sonic eruptions! 
Because everybody I know 
will wet themselves if they 
hear it. And that’s what 

it’s all about.” 





lan Harrison 


25th anniversary collection 
Do What You Love is out on 
October 1 on Trunk Records. 





Clem Burke 


| was just out of high school 
in New Jersey, about 17 years 
. old, when [it] was released. 
David was basically an 
ж unknown artist in the States, 
| but somehow І became 
aware of the Ziggy Stardust album. got 
it the day it came out. It was funny at the 
time because it was an anomaly for me 
to like Bowie. Led Zeppelin and the 
Grateful Dead were the ruling rock 
bands my friends were following, but | 
never really had much interest in them. 

The whole glam rock scene never really 
happenedin the US, buttheZiggy album 
managed to breakthrough. It was more 
glamorous and very unfamiliar. Lyrically, 
my favourite track might be Star or Hang 
On To Yourself, and hearing Five Years, 
the nihilism of it really affected me. He 
was talking about things I hadn't really 
heard before in a pop song. It was relevant 
then and is relevant today - it's kind of 
sci-fi, and we kind of live іп а sci-fi age now. 

The parts Woody Woodmansey 
played were integral - he had an 
intriguing style, not overly complicated 
but very musical. Emulating his playing 
helped me become a better drummer. 
And really, Ziggy Stardust solidified my 
outlook on how | wanted to present myself 
in a band. David was glamorous, and the 
band were glamorous. When I was 
setting out, | was basically looking for 
my David Bowie and І found [that] in 
Debbie Harry. 

It was amazing that five years after 
hearing Ziggy Stardust, we were on tour 
with both David and Iggy on the release 
of the first Blondie album. I would watch 
them do soundchecks and David would 
be coming up with new arrangement 
ideas. Music always seemed to bea work 
in progress for David, and that was а 
template for Blondie. 

As told to James Allen 


Blondie’s Vivir En La Habana EP, is out now 
on BMG. They tour the UK with Garbage in 
November. 





DAVID ROWIE 
ZIGGY STARDUST 





THEBIECARTEL - WWW.THEGIGCARTEL COM - 24 HOUR BOX OFFICE 0844 478 0898 - THERJECARTEL 


ПНЕ TG CAT BY ARRANGEMENT WITH ABS PRESENTS 


ДЕ UN | be nearer” 


N H 5 ы ылга 
WARR PAVILIO BURY ST ED AP DROME 
FRI 1 OC ет L МРТ 1865 // FRE ig OLMFIRI MI E 
THU 21 ОСТ 02 ACADEMY // TH 7 BIRMINGHAM » 
SAT 1з остон М ENGINE SHED // SA 
Hur 


Zi Ё = | 
Ш 
ber. Тһе Best of 
“Dia What You Need" out in n Septem A d 
iis bie You Need / Dig Yourself Deep Albums with new mixe 


NATURAL BORN RAVER YEAH! \ зак 15 OCT LEEDS UNIVERSITY UNION 
25TH NOV BRIGHTON CHALK ATH DEC NEWCASTLE BOILER SHOP 16 OCT LIVERPOOL GRAND CENTRAL HALL 


265TH HOY SOUTHAMPTON THE 1865 STH DEC GLASGOW GARAGE 


27TH NOV FROME CHEESE & GRAIN IOTH DEC EDINBURGH QUEENS HALL 17 OCT EXETER PHOENIX E 
28TH NOV ISLINGTON ASSEMBLY 11TH DEC HOLMFIRTH PICTUREDROME | | ! | | 
740 DEC BIRMINGHAM TOWN HALL 17TH DEC CARDIFF SU Y PLAS 1 9 OCT BEXHILL DE LA WARR PAVILION 
IRD DEC SHREWSBURY BUTTERMARKET 18TH DEC MANCHESTER ACADEMY ! 
4TH DEC BEXHILL ПЕ LA WARA PAVILION 19TH DEC NOTTINGHAM ROCK CITY 20 OCT BILSTON ROBIN 2 
STH DEC NORWICH WATERFRONT 20TH DEC BURY ST EDMUNDS APEX 22 OCT CAMBRIDGE THE JUNCTION 
ег 24 OCT EDINBURGH THE QUEEN'S HALL ? 


11 15. - ТОКЕТ$: WWW THEGIGCARTEL COM - 24 HR BOX OFFICE 0844 478 0898 


BASINGSTOKE THE ЕК MARAE CT. RILSTON THE RORIN 
ISLINGTON CMON CHAPEL OCI- BURY SI EDMUNDS APES 
GLOLCESTERKR GLILDHA UE OUT - NEWCASTLE CLUNY 
BRIGHTON OLD MARK 3 OCT -GLASGOW ORAN MOR 
CHESTER LIVE КЕН Ме VOCI - BRISTOL КЕЕ. 

LEEDS BRUDENEI H OUT - EXETER PHOENTS 

BURY МЕТ THEATHI ИШИ DOVER HOOKED 


STEVE HARLE VW sucrose Town nau 
5 ; COCKNEY REBEL SON 1. E 


ЅАТ 23 ОСТ Fr „ша ч таг 5 
EDINBURGH THE QUEEN’S HALL КЕНТ мол. гал r4 мш Fr i 12 Nov 
L j x T e | — à ; 
SUN 24 ОСТ | қ ‚ E ira OLMFIRTH 
YARM PRINCESS ALEXANDRA AUDITORIUM | т =. а pic cum iredro me 








THURS 9 DEC | et | Rid ater LH 

HOLMFIRTH PICTUREDROME | = | Fri 26 Nov 
FRI 10 DEC | "T | FROME 

HARROGATE ROYAL HALL [ 


WEDS 15 DEC B FINNISH | х ЧА 4 


BURY ST EDMUNDS APEX Fr 1 


OBER 2021 | а: SHREWSBUR RY 


Sr THURS 16 DEC 
EUN x CHELTENHAM TOWN HALL 


— | Fri > Е рне Brudenell 
BATH FORUM $at 9 - Manchester Academy 


SAT 18 DEC - ING | 
BEXHILL -ON-SEA DE LA WARR PAVILION | sun 10 Islington Assembly 









Volcanic 





Reactions 


Under [he Volcano revisits 


the rise and fall of Sir George 
Martin's AIR Studios. 


S RECORDING studios go, 
A Sir George Martin's AIR 

Studios was among the more 
glamorous. Sited on the tiny, emerald 
Caribbean island of Montserrat, 
south-west of Antigua, AIR thrived as 
an idyllic getaway between 1979 and 
1989, and the albums recorded there 
defined the '80s. Yet, nestling 
picturesquely under the epic shadow 
of the Soufriére Hills volcano, this 
eden was snuffed out by a devastating 
hurricane and, a few years later, an 
apocalyptic eruption. 

New documentary Under The 
Volcano — not named after Malcolm 
Lowry's 1947 novel of booze and death, 
says Australian director Gracie Otto 
— brings AIR back to luxurious life. 
With previously unseen home movie 
footage shot by Paul McCartney, 
Stewart Copeland and studio staff, 
interviewees include Mark Knopfler, 
Nick Rhodes, The Police, Midge Ure, 
Martin’s son Giles and, via vintage 
clips, Sir George himself. They recall 
the studio with misty-eyed fondness 
and also candour, reflecting on the 
personal struggles that remain even 
when sun, sea and a personal chef are 
to hand. Under The Volcano serves as 
an extended snapshot of a music 
industry, before the advent of digital 
recording, living large for the last time. 

After launching the AIR London 
“hit factory” in 1970, Martin read 
about Montserrat — a British self- 
governing territory — in a magazine 
article, and imagined a haven for artists 
to escape to. “It was the perfect time 
for the idea like this,” Otto says of 
those years of expanding recording 
budgets. “Mark Knopfler told us Dire 
Straits made Brothers In Arms in three 
days but stayed for a month.” Other 
platinum sellers were The Police’s 
Ghost In The Machine and Synchronicity, 
Duran Duran’s Seven And The Ragged 
Tiger, three Elton John albums and — 
just before Hurricane Hugo blew in — 
The Rolling Stones’ Steel Wheels. There 
was more involved than mere record- 
ing, of course. McCartney found refuge 











24 MOJO 









PAUL MECARTNEY THE ROLLING STONES DURAN 
GEORGE MARTIN ELTON JOHN THE POLICE DIRE STR Ave 


COMING SOON = z 


in Montserrat after John Lennon’s 
murder; for Mick Jagger and Keith 
Richards, the relaxed atmosphere 
melted away years of tension; Stevie 
Wonder demanded he entertain the 
locals at a bar. Stewart Copeland 
recalls, “Тһе Police] went there for 
the isolation, but soon found we only 
had each other to drive each other 
bananas.” Yet they got Every Breath You 
Take, and more, from the experience. 
Under The Volcano was producer 
Cody Greenwood’s idea; she’d visited 
AIR in its heyday, as her mother lived 
on Montserrat. “It was emotional for 
her, because AIR is rotting away now,” 
says Otto. “For me, it was nostalgic, 
almost like missing a great party. But 
it was sad and eerie too. Some of the 
artists I showed footage to cried.” 
Tragically, 1989’s hurricane ruined 
not just AIR but 90 per cent of the 
island’s buildings. Then, dormant for 
three centuries, the Soufriére Hills 
volcano erupted in 1995, poleaxing any 
hope of recovery. In any case, says chief 
engineer Malcolm Atkin, “the kind of 





2 ыз | 


Б ье ` 
essa + Е 
TOR ғ D 





[recording] budgets 
people had were long m 
gone. It wasn't the era So me of 
we built [AIR] for.” A 
philosophical Martin th e artists 
concluded, “It’s like | showed 
everything in life. .. you {о otage to 
bring something out of А 3s 
nothing, and it always goes Cri ed + 
back to nothing again.” 

Martin Aston 


Under The Volcano is out now 


on digital, Blu-ray and DVD 











Coming up for AIR: Sir George 
Martin at his Montserrat 
studio complex, 1979; (insets 
from far left) albums made 
there; the film poster; the 
studios then and now. 








ORMED FROM the ashes of late '60s 
Е pop triers Kippington Lodge, Brinsley 

Schwarz found infamy when an April 
1970 PR stunt went spectacularly awry. A 
plan to send the UK music press to see them 
triumph at New York’s Fillmore East 
collapsed in a farrago of visa skullduggery, 
plastered journos and the band arriving at 
the venue five minutes before showtime. 

“Т was extremely nervous,” says Brinsley 
Schwarz, the guitarist who gave the band its 
name. “The positive thing was seeing Van 
Morrison, who was on after us and was 
blindingly good. We realised that we really 
weren’t, and we had to get a whole lot better.’ 

This they did, and posterity owes the 


band — Schwarz, Nick Lowe (voice and bass), 








9 





26 MOJO 


ONE MORE TIME 
FORPUB ROCK ACES 


Bob Andrews (keyboards) 
and Billy Rankin (drums) 

— more than this cautionary 
yarn. Living communally 

in Northwood, Middlesex, 
they’d move away from the 
CSN harmonies and West 
Coast moves of 1970% 
self-titled debut, and 
gravitate to the Americana 
of The Band and The Flying 
Burrito Brothers, refracted 
through a particularly 
English lens. 

It all ran counter to the 
emerging progressive and 
heavy rock scenes, but the 
Brinsleys looked bound for 
greatness. They were the 
first band to play live on The 
Old Grey Whistle Test in 
1971, appeared at the first 


a 


t ROOTS ALLURES! 


Brinsley Schwarz 


(LIBERTY (UK) CAPITOL (US), 1970) 
mmm The group found 
mee their voice on 
Zu their second 
J album with its 
И musical menu of 
lush harmonies, soulful country 
ballads and some gnarly blues. 
Includes live favourites Country 
Girl and brisk rocker Funk Angel. 





ғ жж 
Ке Ам 


Brinsley Schwarz 


(UNITED ARTISTS, 1972) 
EXE Gomm:'s guitar 

a “Ж and songwriting 

| IN @ debut, Silver Pistol 

a^ finds the Brinsleys 
| е at their closest to 
The Band, with Bob Andrews’ 
Hammond organ swirl evoking 
Garth Hudson and Schwarz 


making no secret of his love of 
Robbie Robertson's guitar style. 





Brinsley Schwarz 


(UNITED ARTISTS, 1974) 
Dave Edmunds 
^ produced this 
n NN Strong, live 
ETE sounding set 
which opens with 
Nick Lowe's (What's So Funny 
'Bout) Peace, Love And 
Understanding. Thereafter, R&B, 
popand country gems abound. 












— k — -— 


Waiting for the pubs to 
open: Brinsley Schwarz 
(from left) Bob Andrews, 
Nick Lowe, lanGomm, 
Brinsley Schwarz, and 
Billy Rankin; (bottom of 
page) Brinsley today. 





Peace, Love And Under- 
standing — covered by 
Springsteen and Costello 
among others — wasn’t a 
global Number 1. *We never 
seemed to be able to make a 
record that sounded like 
what we had in our heads,” 
says Schwarz, “or how we 
sounded live." 

Though offered a deal 
with Island, the weary group 
threw in the towel in 1975. 
Gomm and Lowe embarked 
on solo careers, while 
Andrews and Schwarz joined 
Graham Parker & The 
Rumour, cutting five LPs 
including 1979% triumph 
Squeezing Out Sparks. From 
1983, Schwarz played with 
Parker in a duo, and had a 
parallel career as a guitar 
technician, which became 
full-time after he found 
himself physically unable to 
board planes in 1990. More 
recently, Gomm instigated 
Brinsleys archive recordings 


Glastonbury Festival and did benefits 
including the Greasy Truckers Party at The 
Roundhouse in 1972. *I thought we were 
ahead of our time,” says rhythm guitarist Ian 
Gomm, who joined after the Fillmore East 
event. "We'd played the opening night of the 
Hard Rock Cafe in London in 1971. Paul and 
Linda McCartney were in the audience, and 
they liked it so much we supported Wings on 
two UK tours." 

Yet a breakthrough eluded them. Instead, 
their tight, subtle brand of rock'n'roll placed 
them in the vanguard of the London pub 
rock scene. “We needed to be close up to the 
audience, hot and sweaty,” says Schwarz. 
Looking back, it's hard to understand how 
1974’s wondrous 45 (What's So Funny *Bout) 


including recent sessions/ live comp Last 
Orders! “That’s all I’ve got left," says Gomm. 
*My job as band archivist is over." 

In 2011, Parker and The Rumour reunited 
and, with the help of keyboardist James 
Hallawell, Schwarz cut 2016's solo debut 
Unexpected. Now, new LP Tangled is ready to 
go. “It just developed," he says. “Suddenly I 
was writing songs. If it hadn’t been for Covid 
I'd have got a band together and done gigs.” 

Billed as Brinsley Schwarz? 

“I know! I can’t do anything about that 
though...” 

Mike Barnes. Additional reporting 
by lan Harrison 


Tangled is out on Fretsore in September. Last Orders! is 


out on Mega Dodo. 





A world of games awaits! 


Discover 51 tabletop games from around the world including 
familiar favourites like Chess and Four in a Row. Use motion 
control to hit the bullseye in Darts or line up that perfect strike in 
Bowling. With so many games to choose from theres something 
for everyone to play locally or online with family and friends. 





© 2021 Nintendo 


3 
„Р 
www.pegi.info au x | Copyright Nintendo 2021. Console around £279. Game £34.99 as of 18/06/21. 


Ф.Ф, 








FEEL FLOWS 


The Sunflower & Surf's Up Sessions - 1969 - 1971 





‘Feel Flows’ The Sunflower & Surf's 
Up Sessions 1969-1971 


135 tracks including 108 previously unreleased 
tracks, live recordings, alternate versions, and 
alternate mixes on 5 CDs with a 48 page book. 


Available August 27 


Also available: 4LP | 4LP Limited Edition | 2LP | 2CD 





, Ё к at 
, о a 
' p r 
а E- t " 41 
ғ p. " d F P. т. 
Ға y اہ‎ fr 
= 
Г 


mm oa 
Ы — Р 


р: Р 


For fans of: 
The Breeders, 


| JE Parquet Courts, 


Courtney Barnett, 
Kurt Vile 


22 Service státiontostation: | 
^" PipBlemontheverge ~ 
| romJeft) Gini Cameron,,” 
Pip Blom, Tender Blom,” 


Pip Blom 
| surprised even 
herself when, as 
a shy 16-year-old, 





же” 


Оаѓеск Mercks. y 





т = й 


/ 





FROM AMSTERDAM TO SOUTH 
MIMMS: THE CANNONBALL 


TRAJECTORY OF 


Delivery Service radio show, Annie Clark 

— AKA St. Vincent - put Pussycat, an early 
blast of indie-rock brio by Amsterdam's Pip 
Blom, on a playlist designed to reroute 
listener “Brook from Milwaukee"'s dull career 
trajectory in pharmaceuticals toward 
realising a dream of becoming a writer. 

Not yet 25 and already with two LPs to her 
name, Pip Blom herself needed no such spur. 
Her parents workfor a Dutch music website 
and enthusiastically aid Pip and younger 
brother Tender's musical ambition. Through 
them, Blom discovered Parquet Courts, 
Breeders, Micachu & The Shapes; a generation- 
spanning strain of alternative rock picked up 
inthe nervy thrum of her own guitar pop. 

If there's a drawback to having cool parents 
it’s an inevitable divergence from your peers, 
as Blom discovered when searching for 
likeminded bandmates. “I couldn't find 
anyone who wanted to join," she laughs, 
speaking from the music room at the family's 
home in Amsterdam. "And my brother 
didn't want to be in the band either." 

With the songs for debut album Boat 


| N THE second series of her Mixtape 


28 MOJO 


already written and a recording session 
booked, Tender was eventually persuaded 

to play guitar. Drummer Gini Cameron was 
found hiding in plain sight (she’d been to 
their primary school), and bassist Darek 
Mercks was recommended by friends. “It was 
a bit weird,” Blom acknowledges. “Asking 
someone to join when you've already got 100 
shows lined up. Like, ‘Hey, do you want to join 
in this mad circus?” 

By the end of 2019, Britain had become the 
inner ring of the circus: “I was in the UK almost 
every month/week.” At this road-weary point, 
the title for the new album appeared by the 
side of the M1. "I was fed up,” Blom admits. 
"And then І saw the ‘Welcome Break’ sign. | 
was like, Whoa! This is such a cool name.” 

With the album’s title settled, she returned 
to Amsterdam to write the songs, while 
watching documentaries on TV. "As soon as | 
play something that grabs my attention more 
than the documentary, | immediately record 
that,” she says of her process. "I build songs 
very mathematically." Lyrics, she admits, are 
harder. "There is a distance because it's not 
my native language. It's funny, when my 


boyfriend heard [Welcome 
Break] he said it sounded 
like a breakup record, 
which isn't the case." 

Welcome Break was 
recorded while the band 
were under 14-day 
quarantine in Ramsgate, 
with producer Dave 
McCracken. This album is 
"a band project", says 
Blom, "a real proper unit". 
The songs are stronger 
and brighter, emerging 
with new confidence from 
Boat's layers of distortion. 
She is especially proud of 
the die-cut vinyl artwork 
and contrasting inner 
sleeve, designed by her 
boyfriend, and inspired 
by her dad's tales of 
Factory releases. 


— | using her dad's 


she entered a 
songwriting contest, 





three-string Loog 
guitar to meet the 
three-song entry 
requirement. She 
was relieved to go 
out in the semis 
("It was the most 
nerve-wracking 
thing, | hated it"). 
Recorded at 
Big Jelly Studios, 
Ramsgate, Welcome 
Break was debuted 
at the tiny Ramsgate 
Music Hall to a 
socially distanced 
crowd of 10 people. 
Her bandmates 
note that while on 
tour in the UK, Pip 
Blom talks in her 
sleep in English. 


It Should Have 
Been Fun 

| Love The City 

Keep It Together 


Ifthere was a new song Blom would offer to 
boost the resolve of Brook from Milwaukee, it 
would be Keep It Together. "Because it comes 
together from an airy, bubbly intro, then the 
chorus is more rock. More fun. Yeah," she 
considers, "I think that would be my thing." 


Jenny Bulley 


Pip Blom's Welcome Break is released by Heavenly 


on October 8. 


WAYLON 





THE BEAT GOES ON... 


New releases from BGO Records 


For these and more great releases, 
visit our website at www.bgo-records.com 


DICITALLY DEHASTEGED 





TE] F TRACK OA ТЫЧ DCA - BETALE 
r 





WAYLON JENNINGS COLOSSEUM ЇЇ 
It's Only Rock & Roll / Never Could Electric Savage War Dance THE FOUNDATIONS 
Toe The Mark / Turn The Page / The Pye As, Bs & EP Tracks 
Sweet Mother Texas BGOCD1453 
BGOCD1454 














FRAMPTON 
Samethin's Happening | | DIGITALI 
Frampton 





PETER FRAMPTON COLOSSEUM II 
pragrratuuir gHEMARTERED Somethin's Happening Electric Savage 
GEORGE Frampton War Dance 
u n You Light Up My Life / That's What 
HARMONICA SMITH Friends Are For / The Best Days Of 
..Of The Blues BEE, BGOCD1451 My Life / Mathis Magic + а пей 
BGOCD1448 


BGOCD1450 


All BGO Records new releases are available from Amazon and all good record shops or online at www.bgo-records.com 


RECORDS 





BGO Records, 7 St Andrews Street North, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk IP33 1TZ ° Distributed in the UK by Proper Music 


A quality shave at a fair price. 


SPECIAL 

OFFER 
Free Travel Size 
ТСТ | Shower Gel (60ml) 


TOU HEED FOS «a 
SMOOTH SHAVE 


£3.95 


WORTH £14.50 н" 





S. Add VH 










GET YOUR 

TRIAL SET 

Simply scan the 
QR code or go to: 









6 6 T HE THREE of usare really invested 
in the nostalgia of times gone 
before," says Ryan Hope, of 

Los Angeles soul trio Gabriels. “But from 

a perspective of, like, What are we losing 

in today's society?' We're into the craft of 

recording these proper songs that don't have 

crazy processing or effects." 

It's an approach show- 
cased to stirring effect on 
Gabriels' only release to date, 
the five-song EP, Love And 
Hate In A Different Time, 
which has already attracted 
admirers such as Elton John, 
who declared it "one of the 
most seminal records l've heard in the last 
10 years", and Paul Weller, who chose the 
rousing Curtis Mayfield-like title track to 
appear on the /nto Tomorrow CD that came 
with MOJO 331. 

Gabriels work from a broad sonic palette 
that stretches beyond soul and R&B, though, 
with the creaky, brooding drama of The Blind 
sharing some of its aural DNA with the 
wonkier parts of Tricky's Maxinquaye. The 
timeworn orchestrated jazz of Professional, 
on the other hand, carries strong echoes of 
Billie Holiday, sounding as if it could have 
been rescued from a dusty old 78. 

These disparate influences are the result of 
the three members of Gabriels coming from 
very different backgrounds. Compton-born 
singer Jacob Lusk is a gospel choir leader 
whose past credits include St. Vincent and 
Diana Ross, while Ari Balouzian (from the San 
Fernando Valley) is a composer for film and 
TV, and Sunderland-born Ryan Hope is а 
video director who relocated to California 
after being signed to Roman Coppola's 
agency, The Directors Bureau. 


Atlas Artists/Parlophone. 













MOVE ON UP, WITH LA SOUL 
RE-INVENTORS 


Gabriels met five years ago when Hope 
was working on a short film featuring a 
soundtrack by Balouzian with the choir 
arranged by Lusk. Inspired, they agreed to 
start their own collective musical experi- 
ments at Hope's home in Palm Desert. "It was 
areally slow process," says Balouzian, "until 

we figured out the language 
of writing together." 

Clearly, between them 
they have the audio and visual 
bases covered, as evidenced 
by the striking video for Love 
And Hate In A Different Time. 
An Adam Curtis-inspired 
montage of dancers through 

the ages, starting with the Edison-shot Sioux 
Ghost Dance from 1894, it ultimately cuts 
into an arresting phone-shot scene of Lusk 
singing Strange Fruit through a megaphone 
at a Black Lives Matter rally in LA. "This is 

a song thatis still ringing 
true, unfortunately,’ 
Lusk laments. 
























For fans of: Sault, 


Meanwhile, work Curtis Mayfield, 
| Tricky, Billie Holiday. 
continues on the debut Е 
Gabriels aloum, due 2022. And Hate In A 


Different Time 
features a tinted 
shot of Jacob Lusk's 
Shiloh, Georgia-born 
grandmother, who 
for the singer is a 
symbol of living 
through "all these 


If the trio once seemed 
unlikely collaborators, it's 
clear they've found a solid 
bond. "That's been the 
most beautiful thing 
about this whole 


experience," says Lusk. different periods of 
"| get emotional when I'm the civil rights 
talking about it. It's like memeni 

Lusk had a 


we're legit brothers.” 
Tom Doyle 


Gabriels' Love And Hate In A 
Different Time is out now on 


different experience 
of growing up in 
Compton from, say, 
N.W.A: "It's rough 
and tough, but not 
as rough and tough 
as people think it is," 
he stresses. “It’s 
mostly homeowners 
and lower middle 

@ class families.” 








The Blind 
Love And Hate In 
A Different Time 

Loyalty 













MOJO PLAYLIST 


7 


jai 


a * 
> 





> 
d 





ANGEL OLSEN 

Olsen grabs analogue synths and 
forward-reverses into the '80s: this Alphaville 
cover joins Billy Idol, OMD and Laura 
Branigan classics on September's Aisles EP. 
Find it: streaming services 


SAUN & STARR 


Searing new-old R&B live at 
Harlem Apollo: from Daptone 
celebration Super Soul Revue - 
Sharon Jones! Charles Bradley! - out October. 
Find it: streaming services 


BEACHWOOD SPARKS AND 
GOSPELBEACH 


Neal Casal's bandmates' tender cover of one 
of his finest songs. From Highway Butterfly, a 
5-LP tribute to the much-missed songwriter. 
Find it: YouTube 


BUKKY LEO AND BLACK EGYPT 


From The Legend Of William Onyeabor live at 
the Jazz Cafe (Drift Recordings), a loose, Afro- 
jazz interpretation of Onyeabor's funky epic, 
led by renowned Nigerian saxophonist Leo. 
Find it: BandCamp 


Е > 
y * MarkStewart and co's 1979 
T track rebuilt via echo, splintered 
rhythms and spacial distortion by mix elder 
Bovell. From Y In Dub, out in October. 
Find it: YouTube 


FAT COPS 

Heat-hazed baggy doo wop, built around 
a confessional tale of dangerous liaisons in a 
"static caravan on the edge of Aberfan". With 
salty sermons from Loki The Scottish Rapper! 
Find it: streaming services 


BADBADNOTGOOD 


Canadian instrumental trio, with plenty of 
hip-hop bona fides, stretch out into intrepidly 
proggish new terrain. The jazz Radiohead? 
Find it: YouTube 


BRUCE HORNSBY 

Hornsby's late-career audacity hits a new 
high, recasting the Dinosaur Jr lurcher as an 
austere, jagged piano ballad. It works! 
Find it: YouTube 


CLINIC 

From new LP of same name, 
masked mystery men of Mersey 
T crank up the Barrett-y dub-pop, 
with a possible Brexit comment. 
Find it: YouTube 


JOY CROOKES 





Resonant retro-modern soul pop from the 
south London singer. Bass line slink, Amy 
Winehouse purr and plaintive-ecstatic chorus 
stack the odds before next month’s debut LP. 
Find it: streaming services 


Dana Trippe 


Angelic delight: 
Gabriels (from left) 
Jacob Lusk, Ari 
Balouzian, Ryan Hope. 





Ur 
м9 


THE WAR ON DRUGS E! 
I DON'T LIVE HERE ZEN. XN HUR | 6 


THE WAR ON DRUGS СОЕ 


м жр полаз ма ЕЙ пат 
П BIRMINGHAM 02 ACADEMY THU 31 GLASGOW QMU 


12 LONDON THE 02 APRIL : 
16 LEEDS FIRST DIRECT ARENA САТ 02 LONDON O2 ACADEMY BRIXTON 
18 EDINBURGH CO RN EXCHANGE NEW ALBUM "SWEEP IT INTO SPACE’ AVAILABLE NOW 


- P à i | 
THEWARONDRUGS.NET EVENTIM.CO.UK TICKETMASTER.CO.UK EVENTIM.CO.UK TICKETMASTER.CO.UK DINOSAURJR.COM FKP SCORPO EES 
FAP SCORPIO GEA 


FKP SCORPIO E3 








New Premium Box Sets 














The First Generation Who Do You Think We Are? 
35 Disc Deluxe box Set from the Godfather of British blues 3/ Disc Deluxe Box set 
The ultimate tribute to the legendary Canterbury band 
August 20th 
OUT NOW 


The Delerium Years 
Deluxe limited edition 13 CD box set 
chronicling the band’s evolution 


OUT NOW 

















x Joining a proud history of sold out sets 
American Dreamer 13TH FLOOR ELEVATORS Music Of The Spheres, SMALL FACES 
ВІР Limited Edition box set Here Come The Nice, THE PRETTY THINGS Bouquets From a Cloudy Sky, 
WISHBONE ASH The Vintage Years 1970 -1991, GENTLE GIANT Unburied Treasure, 
FAMILY Once Upon a Time, NIRVANA Songlife 


September 10th 


дее ; 
2 








Ti ды жа (omnes 


THE т Шш Гу 





01858 438884 
FHAA 


www. greatmagazines.co.uk/mojo 


Terms & Conditions: Subscriptions will start with the next available issue. The minimum term is 12 months. Recurring payments will continue to be taken unless you tell us otherwise. 
This offer closes on 20/09/2021. This offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer. Cost from landlines for 01 numbers per minute are (approximate) 2p to 10p. 
Cost from mobiles per minute (approximate) 10p to 40p. Costs vary depending on the geographical location in the UK. You may get free calls to some numbers as part of your call package — 
please check with your phone provider. Order lines open 8am-9.30pm (Mon-Fri), 8am-4pm (Sat). UK orders only. Overseas? Phone +44 1858 438828. 
Calls may be monitored or recorded for training purposes. For full terms and conditions please visit: http://www.greatmagazines.co.uk/offer-terms-and-conditions 








AND BENEFIT FROM: 


Never miss an issue 


Enjoy all the regular benefits of your 
favourite music magazine - including 
exclusive CDs with every issue - with our 
special, subscriber-only covers 


Free UK Delivery to your door / instant 
download to your Smartphone or Tablet 


Only £4.50 a month! 



































THE MOJO [INTERVIEW 


From painter in oils 
to sculptor of sound, Тізе 
War On Drugs’ mainman has 
turned panic and breakdown 
into beatific song, beloved 
of Bruce and Sir Mick. 
oo what's next? “Now it's 
time to live it for real," 
says Adam Granduciel. 


Interview by TOM DOYLE • Portrait by SHAWN BRACKBILL 


NSIDE ADAM GRANDUCIELES HOME RECORDING 
room in Studio City, Los Angeles, the walls are effectively 
his personal Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Posters of Tom 
Petty and '80s-era Bob Dylan are tacked alongside others 
advertising R.E.M.’s Lifes Rich Fageant and The Waterboys’ 
A Fagan Place. Today, our host, who could easily be 
mistaken for a roadie for The War On Drugs rather than their 
esteemed leader, is sporting a T-shirt bearing the artwork for 

The Rolling Stones’ Love You Live. 

As a fanboy-turned-rock star, Granduciel’s enthusiasms remain 
close to the surface. Talking about the making of the upcoming fifth 
War On Drugs album, I Don’t Live Here Anymore, he’s clearly 
delighted to have followed in the footsteps of some of his heroes by 
working in the same studios. While referring to Studio B at LA's 
Sound City as “the After The Gold Rush room”, he is even more 
thrilled to have made parts of the record at the Hendrix-founded 
Electric Lady in New York. 





turn dials and walk over to the Wurlitzer,” says his proud dad. “I’m 
like, ‘Oh, this kid likes exactly the stuff I like.” 

Granduciel, born Adam Granofsky in 1979 and raised just 
outside of Boston by a father who owned a women's clothing store 
and a Montessori teacher mother, has taken a circuitous and 
sometimes torturous route to his current position as a Grammy- 
winning (for 2017s A Deeper Understanding) singer, guitarist and 
bandleader. Emerging from the alternative scene in Philadelphia, 
his breakthrough album, 2014's Lost In The Dream, was the 
product of an all-consuming recording process and mixed 
heartland rock, Neu!-like grooves and trippy layers while revealing 
the singer's often crippling day-to-day anxiety and depression. 

I Don't Live Here Anymore may be The War On Drugs' slickest 
and most commercial move yet, but on it Granduciel continues to 
chart his emotional weather, as in the uplifting moment amid 
muted acoustic opener Living Proof where he declares, “But m 


rising/And I’m damaged...” 


“You know it from the minute you’re down 
in Jimi’s basement, there’s something there,” 
Granduciel enthuses. “It’s not like a ghost. It’s 
just the sound of that room.” 

Absent today are Granduciel’s actor 
girlfriend, Krysten Ritter, and their nearly 
two-year-old son, Bruce, who the singer 
concedes is in *a way” named after The Boss. 
Normally, the toddler is running in and out of 
here and messing around with the gear. “He 
loves to take patch cables and plug them in and 


WE'RE NOT WORTHY 


Sharon Van Etten 
boosts a booster. 


| "The War On Drugs has 
been an influence since | 
4 started making records in 


Philly in 2009/2010. Adam 
has always been supportive 
to me and many others. 

4 His attention to detail has 
always struck me. He still remembers the 
story of a squirrel my father told him. He's 
like that. Genuine. Brotherly. Sentimental." 





“Т had those lyrics basically very quickly,” 
he offers. “I didn’t think too much about it. 
I just felt like that." 

If The War On Drugs has often seemed like 
a band name for what is essentially a solo 
project, Granduciel is keen to point out that 
the new long-player is far more of a collective 
effort involving bassist Dave Hartley, keyboard 
player Robbie Bennett, drummer Charlie 
Hall, saxophonist John Natchez and multi- 
instrumentalist Anthony LaMarca. “This > 


MOJO 35 


< record was more collaborative,” he 
states, “in the best way.” 


What were the very first records that blew 
your mind? 


When I was very young, the only tapes we had 
in the house were, like, a Billy Joel tape, anda 
bunch of classical music that my dad listened 
to. So, | would actually have to say this Billy Joel 
tape, the album with Uptown Girl on it [An 
Innocent Man, 1983]. In my early teens, | got 
into the Nevermind, Pearl Jam Vs. world. My 
brother liked Neil Young, so | had Harvest 
Moon. But then, getting into Pearl Jam, when 
those two worlds collided with Mirrorball, that 
blew my mind because then it also led me 
down the Weld and Arc tracks of Neil. | was like, 
“Oh, didn't realise that this guy was also this 
ridiculous experimental guitar guy." 


As a teenager, you were apparently the 
textbook loner. You played guitar but never 
for anyone else to hear? 


Yeah, | was kind of an introvert. | was happy 
enough to stay home on a weekend, and play 
guitar in my room, and then watch TV with my 
dad. | don't think І had an acoustic until | was 
maybe 19 or 20. So | just had my Harmony 
electric and my little amp, and maybe a pedal. 
| had my Neil Young song book, | had my 
Floyd song book. | had, y’know, 50 fucking 
song books. 


In high school, your French teacher 
pointed out that a literal translation of 
your surname Gran-of-sky would be 
Gran-du-ciel. Did you immediately 
prefer that name? 


It was kind of a joking way of saying my name 
and then some people would refer to me that 
way throughout school. And then when | 
started doing music, giving CDRs of my ideas 
to friends, | just wrote that [name] down. At 
that time, it was just a little bit of anonymity, 
y'know. And | guess it just kind of stuck. 


You studied history and fine arts at 
Dickinson College in Pennsylvania. So your 
aspiration was to become a visual artist? 


Growing up, | loved visual arts, | loved painting. 
And when | finally was old enough to be taking 
painting classes in oil, | realised pretty quickly 
that | didn't have the thing that everyone else 
in the class had. Oil painting was just a little bit 
out of my wheelhouse. But | was really inspired 
by painting, and it was almost like a vehicle to 
just get lost in music. Because | would paint for 
hours and hours and listen to all these 
cassettes l'd made for painting. The painting 
was an excuse to just listen to tapes for fucking 
12 hours. Anything from getting into Miles 
Davis to my early Beatles phase to Velvet 
Underground bootlegs. Then | had a moment 
where | realised that music was the thing that 
Га been doing for so long that | should just 
learn how to do more with it. 


In your early twenties, you moved to 
Oakland, California and were doing a lot of 
painting and writing, and apparently trying 
to compile a dictionary? 


| moved there because | had a friend who was 
there. l'd never been to California and at the 
time l'd been working in restaurants for so long 
that | knew that | could just go and get a job 
and make enough to pay the rent. But | was 
very focused on music. That's when | got into 
recording myself. It was like, go to work from 
three to midnight and work from midnight to 
eight on music, and then sleep for four hours 
and go back to work. The dictionary was my 
oldest friend Julian and | just trying to freeform 
and free associate with words. At the time, it 
was post-9/11, but pre-Iraq war. There was like 
a heavy political edge to our day-to-day and so 
we were just writing prose, y'know. 


This is when you chose the name The War 
On Drugs. Why was it so appealing? 


| just thought it could be a great name for a 
band. You're thinking of this hypothetical band 


A LIFE IN PICTURES 


Adam's antics: a growing Granduciel. 


Adam Granofsky, en route 
to becoming Granduciel. 





Portrait of the artist as 

a young man: Adam 
Granduciel in 2005, with his 
portrait of Joan Jett. 


Shh, constant hitmakers 
at work: Kurt Vile (left) 
and Granduciel making early 
War On Drugs jams. 


24, 2019. 








The ambient house: 
Granduciel and furry 
friend in The War On 
Drugs’ Philadelphia 
home studio, 2010. 


Light fantastic: 
on-stage with The 
War On Drugs at the 
Latitude Festival, 
Henham Park, Suffolk, 
July 20, 2014. 


The War on Drugs, 
2011 (from left) 
Granduciel, Robbie 
Bennett, Charlie Hall, 
Dave Hartley. 








The current War 

On Drugs line-up 
(from left) Adam 
Granduciel, Dave 
Hartley, Robbie 


Courtesy of Adam Granduciel, Shawn Brackbill, Getty (2) 


56 MOJO 


Bennett, Charlie Hall, Anthony 
LaMarca and Jon Natchez. 


Deeper understanding: 

on the red carpet with 
partner Krysten Ritter at the 
91st Academy Awards, Dolby 
Theatre, Hollywood, February 


à à 4» а ..1. 


E M ” JA 
rae | a mi 


Granduciel in 2011: “I was 

very uncomfortable in my 
own body for a long time, and 
in my own head.” 


in your mind for these songs that don’t exist 
yet. It just appealed because it seemed to have 
everything. It had a feeling to it that seemed to 
encapsulate rock'n'roll: like, “war” and "drugs". 
It felt like it was like every band wrapped up in 
one or something. 


It was around this time you were turned on 
to Dylan. How much effect did that have on 
your songwriting? 


| knew Dylan obviously. | knew all the hits. 
What | hadn't heard was The Bootleg Series 
[Volumes 1-3], with the early stuff on it, like 
Farewell, Angelina, and then obviously, the 
Blood On The Tracks acoustic versions. Dylan, | 
just got into very, very deep, very quickly. Like 
the Tangled Up... New York session stuff, | 
started learning that tuning and writing more 
songs. Yeah, | mean, the Dylan thing has never 
really ended either. 


You're moving around a lot in this period 
between the west and east coasts. Did you 
feel rootless? 


Yeah, in the best way. | wanted that, y'know. 
Not the troubadour thing... | just wanted that 
restlessness. We were in Oakland for only 11 
months, but it felt like years. And then we were 
like, "Let's go east." Myself and my friend Julian 
hopped on a train. Four or five months later he 
was in Philly, and | followed him there a couple 
months after that. But also, around that same 
time | went by myself to watch that Wilco 
movie [I Am Trying To Break Your Heart, 2002] 
at the Somerville Theatre in Boston, and | was 
like, "That is exactly what | want. | want to just 
be in a room with people being creative." That 
was a really inspiring moment, too. 


After moving to Philadelphia, you met Kurt 
Vile, and he became a kindred soul. You'd 
play in his band The Violators and he'd play 
in The War On Drugs. You developed 
together musically? 


One hundred per cent. | mean, if | had not met 


| | |! | 
| Il 
Il I 

| | ! 


ІІ ҮШ | 7 
hu iil Eli 





Kurt, | probably would not have learned how to 
express myself in a way that felt real. We were 
both into the same era of Dylan - the Eat The 
Document, Live 1966 stuff. The frazzled, 
acoustic, droning low E string stuff, y'know. 
Every day, he was at my house in the base- 
ment, jamming, or we were at his house, in 

his little music room, playing acoustics and 
recording. Then | moved to this other house 

a year later that | would end up living in for 

13 years. That became the headquarters for 
the music | was starting to make. Definitely, 
between 2004 and 2010 was the most inspiring 
time of my life. 


Together you and Vile made the 
first War On Drugs album, 
Wagonwheel Blues, in 2008, and 
then he had a lesser role in its 
successor, Slave Ambient [2011], 
before drifting away. In your mind 
there was still a huge divide 
between the music you were 
making and the music that you 
actually liked and wanted to make? 


Yeah. In those early days, it was just 

all very confusing and felt a little 

forced, maybe. And | knew that Kurt 

was on his own path anyway. Like, 
regardless of even if we had somehow put 
together the greatest band of all time in that 
moment for those songs, Kurt was still going to 
do what he wanted to do. | kept experimenting 
at home and ended up with Slave Ambient. We 
were on different paths. But we were still 
walking them together in a way. 


Did you go into 2014's Lost In The Dream 
with a different mindset? 


| think my mindset was | had done those two 
records, which were based more in sound. Like 
experimenting with my recordings at home 
and then turning them into songs somehow. 
And Lost In The Dream, | was interested in a 
little bit of that too. But | was like, "Yeah, it's 








cool that people seem to like these albums, 
but | don't feel like | can sit down and play any 
of these songs with a guitar.” So, | think | just 
wanted to become better at that. | was like, 

"| need to have a record wherel do ita 
different way, rather than it's just all trial and 
error all the time and you're just pulling puzzle 
pieces out and putting another one in, hoping 
it sounds cool." 


The recording of Lost In The Dream was an 
intense time for you, involving virtually 
endless and obsessional recording. You 


“Taking painting 
classes I realised 
pretty quickly that I 
didn't have the thing 
everyone else had." 


nearly pushed yourself over the edge. 
How do you view that time now? 


| was a little lost. | had all my recording gear 
set up on the first floor of my house. And | 
just, like, couldn't even go down there. | was 
basically living on the third floor of my 
house. Yeah, it was a very strange time. 

Very uncomfortable in my own body for a 
long time, and in my own head. The only 
respite | was getting from whatever was really 
fucking me up were these recording sessions 
that | was booking once every six or seven 
weeks. Myself and Dave [Hartley], and Jeff 
Zeigler, my engineer, we would drive down 
to North Carolina. а be like, "OK, once we 
get in the van, and I’m with my friends, and 








на % 
| Som д 


"i 





we're working оп music, then I'll feel good.” 
But then, when | was not working on it, | had 
zero purpose. | didn't really have a clear vision 
for that record other than just trying to follow 
my instincts. 


But Lost In The Dream was where The War 
On Drugs' sound truly emerged: classic 
'drivetime' rock lent motorik beats and 
hypnotic dreaminess. It was quite a leap, 
wasn't it? 

Oh, a hundred per cent. | think part of that leap 
was when | went to mix it. Myself and Jeff, we 
were working on Lost In The Dream 
and it was sounding like everything 
else we had worked оп. | just knew, 
"Man, if | keep working with Jeff on 
this, we're never gonna finish it. We're 
just too close. l'm too in my own 
head.” So for the first time | was like, "I 
want to find someone else to help me 
finish this thing." And Nicolas Vernhes 
[Deerhunter, Animal Collective] came 
up. We talked on the phone for about 
two hours about [classic Roland 
synths] Juno-60s and drum beats and 
Suicide and Can and Dylan. 


But there was a moment during the 
mixing in Brooklyn where you felt you had 
a "total fucking nervous breakdown?" 


Basically, yeah. 


Were you overwhelmed by what you were 
creating? 


| don't really know. | mean, when we were 
working on it, it was a heightened level of 
nervous anxiety, tension, depression. | was 
excited that | was liking the sound of my music. 
But | think | was just very confused about what 
| was supposed to be doing with my life. At 
that point, l'd been working on that record 
forever, and my life at the time was kind of in a 
shambles. And how much of this is just to, like, 
satisfy your ego? Or how much of it really > 


Р 





<< matters? It still felt open-ended, and it felt 
confusing. And | felt like | wasn’t sure if | was 
good at this thing. 

It didn’t become clear to me as a record 
until a couple of weeks later. Ben [Swanson] 
at Secretly Canadian came down to Philly 
from Indiana to hear the mixes. We were 
driving around in his rental car because | was 
too fucked up to drive. Not like on drugs... 
| was so anxious all the time, | couldn’t even, 
like, catch my breath. | was sweating like 
crazy and playing him the mixes in the car. 
He was so excited. And | couldn’t even process 
what that meant. 


Under The Pressure became your break- 
through song, detailing your own anxiety. 
Why do you think it connected so strongly? 
It seemed to speak to a lot of people who 
were equally overworked, overstimulated, 
frazzled... 


Yeah, | still don't know why. It's like a spirit in 
the music that just felt very real to me and raw. 
| think things connect with people when it just 
feels like the guy making it, or the girl making 
it, is fully invested in that thing. The only thing 


$8 MOJO 


| really had going for me was this set of songs. 
As much pain at the time as it had brought me, 
| don't think the music was bringing me pain. | 
think it was everything else. But it was the only 
thing that І really truly cared about. So, maybe 
that's the thing. People want to hear some- 
thing that feels inspired in the most real way. 


Did the success of Lost In The Dream take 
you by surprise? It doesn't seem to have 
been your plan to become a big band? 


Yeah, | was not shooting to become successful 
in music. | couldn't have expected how quickly 
people were responding to it. | was very 
surprised that it was becoming popular. We 
ended up with the six-piece band that we are 
now. And very quickly, the shows were getting 
moved to bigger rooms and at the festivals in 
Europe we were playing on the bigger stages. 


But The War On Drugs' sound always 
seemed destined for big spaces. Bono has 
said that U2's music "never had a roof over 
its head". Can you relate? 


Yeah, | сап. I do like that quote. | feel like it's 
something people were expecting from us 





“I just want my music to sound natural. I don't want 
it to sound like it's trying to be something else." 


from Wagonwheel Blues in 2008... this kind of 
bigger sound that | don't think we could really 
deliver on. Lost In The Dream was the first time 
the songs felt and sounded big. Once we hit 
our stride, after a couple of months, we were 
really very quickly growing as a six-piece unit. 
It just all lined up perfectly. 


Making A Deeper Understanding [2017], you 
had signed to Atlantic Records and were 
working in Los Angeles in top flight studios. 
But the intensity and attention to minute 
detail carried over. You apparently mixed 
the track Pain 30 times? What were you 
looking for that you weren't achieving 

in your mind? 


| just want it to sound natural. | don't want it to 
sound like it's trying to be something else. For 
A Deeper Understanding, | hired Shaun [Everett, 
Alabama Shakes/Grizzly Bear]. We would spend 
months and years getting a song through all 
these different phases where we've replaced 
the drums four different times, and l've recut 
the vocals and | changed the arrangement. 
And at the end of all of that work, we would 
both look at each other and be like, "Oh yeah, 





Shawn Brackbill 


Living the dream: Adam 
Granduciel in the San 
Fernando Valley, Los 
Angeles, July 9, 2021. 





sounds like a casual recording of the band.” 
And that's really the essence of what we're 
trying to get at: the illusion of a casual 
recording of a band playing as good a song 
as they can play. 


Can you relate to other sonic obsessives like 
Lindsey Buckingham, or Brian Wilson? 


Oh, for sure. You're looking for something that 
if someone asks you what you're looking for, 
you can't necessarily explain. But | know when 
whatever we're working on is not there yet. 


You've emerged from the Philly alternative 
scene as the arena-filling band. Yet you've 
never been accused by your contemporar- 
ies of selling out. Why do you think that is? 


| think we just kicked around for years, and we 
just tried to do our thing. We played so many 
awful shows. l'm not gonna say we embar- 
rassed ourselves, but we definitely tried it on in 
front of a lot of people for a lot of years. And 
y'know, we remained supportive and 
complimentary of the scene in Philly that we 
were a part of, and we were social. When Lost 
In The Dream came out and it started to take us 
around the world, | think people were excited 
that we had had some recognition, because 
we'd been kicking around for a while. 


So you'd paid your dues? 
Yeah, y'know, me and Dave last night were 


talking about that first tour we did with my 
Volvo. Twenty miles outside Philly, going out to 
Chicago and back, the muffler fell off. It was 
just me, Dave and Kurt. If you had all the 
windows up, you would die from the fumes 
because the catalytic converter had also fallen 
off. But if you put the windows down, it was so 
fucking loud. So, we had this 15-hour drive, 
and it was, y'know, "Do you keep the windows 
up, or do you put 'em down? Do we die from 
fumes or do we lose our hearing from the 
sound of this car in the wind?" That's where 
we started, man. 


How do you view the lower-key successes of 
some of your friends such as Kurt Vile and 
Steve Gunn? Do you sometimes envy their 
less-pressure career paths? 


Not really, because those guys do what they do 
from the heart, and they do it really well. And 
that's their thing. So as long as people are 
doing what they want to be doing for those 
reasons, then, everyone should be psyched 


Is there something inherent in your 


Three landmarks on 
Granduciel's sonic journey, 
by Tom Doyle. 


Kurt Vile 


ЖЖЖЖ 
Childish Prodigy 


(MATADOR, 2009) 


Recorded in Philadelphia but 
_ sounding like it was made іп 
1970s New York, Vile’s 
louche-rocking third album 
was co-produced by 

| Granduciel, who also played 
electric guitar in backing band The Violators. 
Features, on Freak Train, an appearance by the 
Roland TR-707 drum machine that would drive 
The War On Drugs’ sound (here in a propulsive 
Suicide-ish role) and the lo-fi sampling of 
acoustic guitar loops in the reverie-inducing 
Blackberry Song. 





The War On Drugs 
ЖЖЖЖ 


Lost In The Dream 
(SECRETLY CANADIAN, 2014) 


Taking classic '80s rock motifs 
and lending them a trippy 
edge, Lost In The Dream was 
familiar yet unique. Red Eyes 
sounded like Don Henley's The 
Boys Of Summer buzzed up on 
cheap bikers' speed, Eyes To The Wind was 
pining balladry par excellence, while the last 
three minutes of the eight-minute-long 
drivetime rocker Under The Pressure 
beautifully dissolved into ambient noise. 








The War On Drugs 
ЖЖЖЖ 
A Deeper Understanding’ 


(ATLANTIC, 2017) 


Granduciel’s major label debut 
sharpened his commerciality 
but maintained his music’s 
transcendent qualities. Choice 
fuzz guitar solos punctuated 
great songs - see the moment 
at 2:14 in Pain where it feels like Neil Young 
and Old Black have entered the picture. 
Elsewhere, in the 11-minute Thinking Of A 
Place, Granduciel wallowed in nostalgia and 











stretched out further than ever before. 





make-up that drives you to make the 
biggest music possible, both commercially 
and sonically? 


Definitely. | mean, l'm a strangely ambitious 
person when it comes to all this stuff... this 
whole world that surrounds us, with the songs, 
but also with the band and our crew. We built 
a really great family with these songs and the 
albums. And so how can we take the family 

to the next level? 


Last year you remixed the unreleased 
Rolling Stones track Scarlet [which featured 
Jimmy Page] for the Goats Head Soup 
reissue. Bit of a dream job? 


It was surreal. They sent me the multitracks 
and for the first three days, | was sitting in my 
studio soloing Jimmy Page's guitar or listening 
to Mick. | was like, "You've got to be fucking 
shitting me." This whole thing blew my mind 
for, like, a week. So І kind of fucked around with 
it. Within a day or two, | had taken elements of 
their recording, and | was running Jimmy 
Page's guitar through my flanger and Keith's 
guitar through some amps and Mick through 
some delay, or whatever. Just kind of stuff 

| would do to my own music. 

Then [management] were like, “They love it. 
Mick will call you tomorrow.” | was like, “Wait 
wait wait, back it up, back it up...” (laughs). It 
was just myself and Mick, not on FaceTime, 
thank God, but just the regular phone. He said 
he loved the vibe, loved the approach and he 
was so committed to it. He was like, “I got a 
whole new melody idea for the middle section. 
I'm gonna fly to France. I’m gonna do this 
melody." I'm like, “Oh my God, he's hearing it 
evolve.” It was so inspiring because it was like, 
this guy's still tapped in. The guy's been 
tapped in his whole fucking life. 


Have you met any of your other heroes? 
Springsteen? 


| met Bruce. | went to see his Broadway show. 

| knew for a couple of years that he was a fan of 
our band. We went backstage and Bruce just 
turns to me and gives me a big hug. | mean, 
fucking A, y'know. It was pretty incredible. 
We've stayed in touch since. It's inspiring. Just 
these guys... they're always tweaking, you 
know what | mean? Tweaking the songs, 
tweaking the next record, tweaking the show. 


There's a sense of greater equilibrium in the 
songs оп I Don't Live Here Anymore. Not 
least in the opening lines of Rings Around 
My Father's Eyes: “I’ve never really known 
which way I’m facing/But | feel like 
something's changed." Can you define 
what's changed? 


| think maybe just a sense of purpose or a 
sense of acceptance. All you can do is live with 
a sense of grace and a sense of knowing. Be 
true to yourself. Be true to your ideals. Be true 
to the things that you know are inherently 
important to you. And sometimes, you only 
learn that by maybe not living it. Maybe you 
only learn that by kind of abandoning those 
things at times and realising that you're not 
living, y'know. But at least you know that now 
it's time to live it for real. 


It sounds like some of your old anxieties 
have faded away? 


| think in the way that they had reared their 
head before... yeah, for sure. 


So, ultimately, what drives you on? 


| think at this point, with music and really with 
life - because they're intertwined - just to keep 
this thing going. І have a responsibility to just 
keep making the kind of music that | want to 
be making. To push what | thought was just a 
dream for myself, which is doing any sort of 
music for a living. To push it as far as І сап. (f 


MOJO 39 








When struggling jazz-pop diva “Arétha Franklin, came 
to Muscle Shoals, Alabama, in January 1967, it was the 
epiphany that transformed her art and career forever. Bass 
man avid ‘Hood watched the magic happen, and helped 
the makers of new Aretha biopic, Respect, shoot the truth. 
As told to: Bob Mehr. Portrait: Anthony Barboza. 


HEN WE FIRSTWORKED WITH ARETHA, 
she wasn't a big star. She'd had some 
albums out on Columbia, but they were almost 
like easy listening music, and they really didn't 
j sell much. But we knew all about her from 
working with [Atlantic records executive] Jerry Wexler. 

I remember we’d been at Wexler’s house and he played us this 
recording of Aretha doing My Precious Lord at church. She was maybe 12 
or 13 at the time when this was recorded. And it was so great. We could 
see why he was really interested in her. Wexler was hot to sign her up. He 
waited and the minute her contract with Columbia was up [in late 1966], 
he grabbed her as quick as he could. He really wanted her on Atlantic. 

The thing Wexler did, that was the most important decision to me, 
was he had her sit down at the piano, and sing and play at the same time. | | , idi 
Whereas before, when she was at Columbia, she was standing alone at 4 о David Hood, 1968 (left) 








d cut 








ч 














; | ы. | with co-Swampers 
the microphone, and there was an orchestra backing her and all that. But | Sere. Tt: fee Jimmy Johnson and 
ith [Atlantic], he had her doing h | style piano playing. у povided Junior Lowe; (oppo- 
ш [At C e had her doing her own gospel style piano playing | DAVID HOOD has provided the site) Aretha Franklin, 
I think that's really what opened the door for her, for her new style — which foundation for some ofthe finest lost in the zone, 1971. 


records in the history of American 

music. Alinchpin of the Muscle Shoals 

Swampers, he began his career in the mid '60s as part of 
the house band at Rick Hall's Fame studios working with a 


really wasn't new. She'd been singing and playing like that since she was a little 
kid in her father's church. 






| У HEN ARETHA DID HER FIRST SESSION AT FAME pantheon of deep soul greats from Wilson Pickett to Etta 
| "E еро: 1967. it h James. After Hood and the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section 
ا‎ eee ONS in January а» Jimmy Jo uo established their own studio in 1969, a range of rock and 
| guitar ] and Roger Hawkins [drums] and Spooner Oldham pop stars - Paul Simon, Rod Stewart, Linda Ronstadt 


[keyboards], and they'd also been working with Tommy Cogbill [bass] and -would make the pilgrimage to North Alabama. Now 78, 
Chips Moman [guitar] from Memphis. Since Tommy was already playing the ood Cy rune ne gamut om amr OWIOn ье 

| , Nelson to Frank Black and Primal Scream, and his musical 
bass, I wasn’t gonna play. But they needed a horn section. Wexler wanted the lineage continues via his son Patterson Hood, frontman of 
Memphis Horns but they were already booked. I could play trombone, I was long-running Americana outfit Drive-By Truckers. 


available and convenient! The horn section was me and Charlie Chalmers > 


MOJO 41 




























<< [saxophone], who went on to do a lot of work with 
Aretha, and a few other guys. 

I remember in the studio, when Aretha sat down at the 
piano to play for the first time. it was unbelievable. I mean 
everybody’s mouths just dropped open. It was a whole 
different thing being in the room with her. Before that, 
she’d done these records where she was like a cocktail 
lounge singer. But when she sat down at the piano she was 
a gospel singer. And that set the tone for the rest of her 
career. She was an amazing piano player too. Not schooled 
really, but just a beautiful flowing player. 

We started working on the song I 
Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love 
You). It was a tricky thing, because there 
wasn't much of an arrangement or a hook 
at first. Everybody was just working on it 
for a while trving to get it together. And 
the horn section, we were waiting for 
them to get the rhythm track so we could 
come up with something. Finally, after a 
couple of hours, Spooner plays this little 
lick on the Wurlitzer and that was the 
opening riff — it all came together after 
that. Then Charles Chalmers went and 
wrote the horn parts upstairs at the 
office at Fame and we went down 
there and put them on there live. It 
was done in one or two takes, live. 

We cut I Never Loved A Man, and 
got a start on the rhythm track for 
Do Right Woman, Do Right Man 
and then everything just fell apart. 
What caused that session to end or 
get cut short, was that one of the guys 
they brought in for the horn section 
was a trumpet player named Ken 
Laxton from Memphis. We didn't 
know him; he was just someone who got added to 
the horn section. Apparently, he and some of the 
others were drinking on the session — which is 
something I would never do! But he started get- 
ting kind of fresh with Aretha and Aretha's hus- 
band Ted White, who was also her manager. 

Well, Ted didn't like that and told Wexler, 
“Get rid of this guy.” And Wexler tells [Fame 
owner] Rick Hall, who was engineering the 
session, and Rick sends him on his way. But 
there were already some bad feelings there with Ted and Aretha. 

After we left — and everything that caused that session to end was 
after the band left — Rick and Ted apparently got into it. I guess Rick 
had been drinking too, and he said, “Pll go patch things up with Ted 
and Aretha.” And Wexler said, *No, no, don’t do it.” But Rick went 
to see led back at their hotel... and sure enough they got into it and 
it came to blows! On the fifth floor of a hotel in Florence! I mean, it 
got to be pretty serious. They were calling each other names and 
tussling on the hotel balcony. So that's what ended the session: Ted 
left, Aretha left, Wexler left. And we thought, *Oh shit — this is 
gonna end our career with Jerry Wexler!” Luckily, it didn't. But it 
made Wexler not work at Fame and with Rick for quite a while. 

| .EXLER CONTINUED PRODUCING ARETHA 
G W and took that record to New York, and worked with 
Tom Dowd and Arif Mardin, but it was mostly the 


same band, Muscle Shoals guys. After Tommy Cogbill, they had 





Jerry Jemmott come in and play bass, and eventually it was my turn. 

In 1969 and 1970, we recorded with Aretha in New York and 
Miami for This Girl’s In Love With You and the Spirit In The Dark 
records. The song I played on that was a big seller was Call Me. She 
plays a great intro part on that which really exhibits her piano style 


42 MOJO 


Aretha brooklia 
Spirit in thc Dark 


Daughter of a preacher man: 
(clockwise from top left) Aretha in 
1967, shortly before leaving Columbia for Atlantic; on-stage 
at ‘Soul Together’, Madison Square Garden, NYC, June 28, 
1968; fixing her make-up, Symphony Hall, Newark, New 
Jersey, 1969; Do Right Woman - with producer Jerry Wexler 
(left) and husband Ted White, 1968; classic Aretha vinyl. 


and how good she was. Spooner had quit playing with 
us, and Barry Beckett was playing keys. But Aretha 
was always the official keyboard player, because she 
was so good, and her playing was so intertwined with 
what she was doing vocally. She was maybe having problems with Ted 
or whoever she was with at the time. I do recall it was kind of heavy. 
When she cut Call Me — which she wrote — as she sang it she was 
crying. Man, that made an impression on me. It was really heartfelt. 
It made an impression on me how deeply she felt the lyric. 

On that session we also did some Beatles songs, Let It Be and 
Eleanor Rigby. Let It Be wasn’t even out yet, I don’t think. I believe 
Paul McCartney sent her his demo of the song. I tried my best to get 
a copy of that demo! 

The way the sessions usually worked is Wexler and Aretha would 
spend several days going through songs, hundreds of songs, picking 
the material she would record. She was very much a part of that. 
Wexler was a great song guy, but he was a great people person too, 
so he would get together with her and make sure she was happy with 
the material. It was always the rhythm section and Aretha at first 
and they’d bring in the other players — whether it was Duane All- 
man on guitar or the horns or whoever — later on. Aretha was always 
very key in the arrangements. She had those arrangements in her 
head worked out, and she would do the piano and vocals live as we 
were cutting — she might go back and fix a word or two, but that was 
pretty much all her live. 

As a rhythm section, with me and Roger Hawkins, I think we just 


Everett Collection/Bridgeman Images, Getty (3) 


followed Aretha’s lead. We tried 

to play with her best we could, 

to fit around her. That was al- 

ways the deal with me and Rog- 

er. Whatever artist we were 

backing, we'd tried to feel like 

we were the artist’s band. That 

was definitely the case with Are- 

tha because she was very much the centre of everything and so we 
adapted what we did to working with her. 

Later on, we went down to Miami and cut with her. Jerry Wexler 
and Tom Dowd both had homes in Miami so they loved recording 
down there, at Criteria Studios. We didn't particularly like Criteria 
but we liked working with Jerry and Tom. Actually, Wexler wanted 
us to move to Miami, and be the house band, but we were small 
town Southern guys, we didn't want to move there. When we told 
them that, they put together the Dixie Flyers — which was [guitarist/ 
pianist] Jim Dickinson and a few other people who became the 
[Miami] band for Atlantic. They were all good players but they 
weren't as tight as we were as a unit. So we ended up playing on that 
Aretha session some, for Spirit In The Dark. That wasn't a big seller 
at the time, but it's a real sleeper record, I think. 


| personally. I don't know that any of us did. I do think she 

= had an attachment to Jimmy Johnson and Roger Hawkins 
especially. I know when they had the hits on I Never Loved A Man, 
that she gave those guys watches as a thank you present. But she was 


g| NEVER REALLY GOT TO KNOW ARETHA WELL 


a very quiet person. Even though she was a great performer out in 
the public, she was really quite shy. So it was never like “Hey Aretha 
— how ya doing?” It was never that. Everyone was there to do their 
job. And when you listen back to those records, I think everyone 





was doing their job really well. 
Years later, in 2011, I was part 
of a tribute to Aretha Franklin in 
Cleveland at the Rock and Roll 
Hall of Fame. Bobby Wood from 
the Memphis Boys put the band 
together. We weren’t supposed 
to play with Aretha, we were 
backing with all these people who were doing Aretha songs. But she 
was there watching and finally at the end of the show she came out 
unannounced and unplanned and played A Song For You — the Leon 
Russell song she did on Let Me In Your Life [1974]. We hadn’t re- 
hearsed it and we didn’t even know what key it was supposed to be 
in at first. But we figured it out and followed along. Aretha was ad 
libbing and doing all these flourishes on the piano. Unfortunately, 
that was the last time I saw her. 

It’s strange to be thinking back on all this because they’ve been 
doing this movie Respect. Last January, we watched them shoot 
some of the film over in Atlanta. The part we went to watch was the 
bit when she comes to Fame and records I Never Loved A Man. We 
went over there to offer suggestions, consult on it a bit and make 
sure they got it right. The funny thing is they had a guy there playing 
me! It was so strange, having a guy playing a 25-year-old version of 
me. But he could actually play the trombone. 

Then just the other day Jennifer Hudson came to Muscle Shoals, 
came to Fame and they filmed her in and around the studio for a 
documentary segment. She’s a beautiful lady and a great actress and 
singer, just one of the nicest people I’ve ever been around. I think 
she'll make a great Aretha. But, of course, there's only one Aretha. @\ 


TURN FOR THE LOWDOWN 


|. WITH DIRECTOR AND STARS... 





MOJO 43 





Before she died, °Arétha ‘Franklin, told Jennifer Hudson she foresaw 
“a big motion picture of her life”. But how did its makers match 
music's greatest voice and reveal its most private personality? 

“We had to bring our A-plus game,” they tell ‘Andréw (ollins. 


ELL THE TRUTH OR REHASH THE 

legend? - it’s the dilemma of any 

biographer, in film orin print. But 

the story of popular music’s 

greatest singer posed more 
specific challenges. While Respect - director 
Liesl Tommy's Aretha Franklin biopic – was in 
development, its subject was still alive and not 
content to be a passenger (the makers of 
Amazing Grace - the 1972 Aretha concert film 
blocked by Franklin for 46 years - might 
sympathise). And when alive, the singer was 
never eagerto share her secrets. But as the first 
minutes of Respect make clear, one punch was 
not going to be pulled. 

The scene is a social gathering at the home of 
Franklin’s preacher father Clarence (Forest 
Whitaker). It's Detroit, circa 1952, anda 
10-year-old Aretha (Skye Dakota Turner) is 
paraded through aforest of black notables 
(Mahalia Jackson, Smokey Robinson, Sam 
Cooke), to sing for her supperto whoops of 
admiration and delight. Later, another party, 
Aretha not much older: a man comes to her 
bedroom and locks the door. Cut to 12-year-old 
Aretha, pregnant with herfirst child before her 
musical journey had even begun. 

It's a keynote in a film that addresses 
Franklin’s "demons" and the exploitation that 
conceivably begat them. The core creative team 
- Cape Town-born theatre director Tommy plus 
screenwriters Tracey Ann Wilson (who, also 
theatre-schooled, staffed on six seasons of The 
Americans for FX) and Callie Khouri (Thelma & 


44 MOJO 


Louise, ABC's six-season Nashville, Mrs T Bone 
Burnett) - were clearly never in two minds about 
whereto start, and whereto end their film. 

"Producer Scott [Bernstein] called me infora 
general casual chat,” Tommy tells MOJO, "and I’m 
not very good at general casual chat." Instead, 
she walked in and set out her stall: start in the 
church, end in the church, and lower the curtain 
in 1972. Tommy giggles: "They were definitely 
startled by the specificity of the casual chat!" 

Respectis notthefirst dramatised depiction 
of Aretha; it’s not even the first this year (Cynthia 
Erivofrom Stockwell, south London played 
Franklin in eight parts for National Geographic's 
Genius series). But it finds a through-line that 
goes wide and deep, broadsheet and tabloid, 
with connections both intimate and showbiz, 
providing meaningful exchanges. In a sweet 
scene atthe piano, young 'Re' and mother 
Barbara (Audra McDonald), communicate in 
song. Mum tells her never to think she has to sing 
if she doesn’t want to - advice that colours the 
seeming stubbornness of Franklin’s later career. 
It’s deft work by the writers: was there anything 
in Franklin’s story that was new to them? 

“Her John Hammond years,” jumps in Wilson, 
referring to Columbia’s failure to convert the 
young Franklin’s gospel talent into hits. “She put 
out these beautifully sung and produced albums 
of standards that no one wanted to buy. That 
really broke her heart... and terrified her about 
her future. She struggled.” 

To preserve our sympathy, did they “tone 
down the diva"? 


“Divas are not born,” Wilson states. “They 
have to be allowed to take up space like that. She 
was famously shy. Look at interviews, she’s very 
restrained. | was fascinated by someone who 
sounded like that, who grew into such power. 

A story about a woman who has to fight for her 
agency is always relevant, unfortunately. Look 
what's going on in court with Britney Spears.” 


ESPECT HAS SEVERAL UNFAIR 
SEE advantages over National 
Geographic's effort, but the most 


obvious опе is Jennifer Hudson - breakout 
star of American Idol in 2004, and, crucially, 
similarly Baptist-raised and a 7-year-old star of 
her church choir. 

Franklin had made a note of Hudson's Oscar, 
Golden Globes and Grammys for the 2006 
stage-to-screen smash Dreamgirls. Hudson 
found herself compared to "the young Aretha" 
in Variety and Rolling Stone, while Clive Davis 
identified her as "the next generation's Aretha." 
It was, then, foretold. 

“Jennifer is a mix of unicorn and rainbow,” 
according to Marlon Wayans, who plays Aretha’s 
first husband and manager Ted White in 
Respect. “I worked 22-hour days on White Chicks 
[the cult comedy in which he and brother Shawn 
‘white up’ as female undercover cops], but to 
watch this woman effortlessly, day after day after 
day... she always made the song sound better. 
We had to bring our A-plus game.” 

Gushing admiration for Hudson's work ethic 
– she taught herself to play piano, because that's 





© 2020 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved Quantrell D. Colbert (3) 





what Franklin did - is not hard to come by. 
Whether the scenes аге in the studio – the 
storied creation of | Never Loved A Man (The Way 
| Love You) in Muscle Shoals, along with the 
brawl between Ted White and owner-producer 
Rick Hall that nearly ended Franklin’s career 
revival before it began - or on stage, Hudson 
brings an uncanny mastery of Franklin's range. 
Stand-up and podcaster Marc Maron, playing 
Jerry Wexler, observes: “One of the ways іп 
which Jennifer rose to the job was that all 
the songs that were sung were for, or 
around, charged events, like Martin 
Luther King’s funeral. She was able to 
bring the emotion, to capture the time, 
the event, andalsothe song, and 
interpret itin her way - interpretations 
of Aretha Franklin songs that are also 
unique to Jennifer.” 
“I spent 15 years in theatre and 
rehearsal rooms,” says New Jersey native 
Wilson, whose passage to TV was laid by 
NBC's Do No Harm. "And | was really 
looking forward to making scenes about 
the creation of work, because | don't feel 
like I see enough of them.” She now cherishes 
hearing an instruction to Hudson in playback 
from the Respect sound booth. The note went, 
“Put some more Aretha on it." And she did. 
Is Hudson a diva in real life? 


"I would be,” grins Tommy. 
UTHENTICITY IS AN ELUSIVE GRAIL 
GA · the music biopic. Respect tries its 
7 level best to be true to the mid-late 
‘60s, and Marc Maron goes out of his way to 
deliver a believable Jerry Wexler: “I really sought 











out to honour the guy! He's a legend.” But he has 
a caveat: “There’s a coupla eras, | think, where 
you re always gonna be upstaged by the outfits! 
From the late ‘60s to the early ’70s, they 
shouldn't even set films in that time! Especially 
with white people. Because they're always 
gonna look like clowns." 

The world and life of the black church - form- 
ative for Franklin, for good andi ill - is perhaps the 
most richly rendered milieu. For Tituss Burgess, 


who plays preacher and Franklin family friend 
James Cleveland, it was a matter of channelling 
his upbringing in Athens, Georgia. 

“It sparked several different emotions," he 
reveals. “I began їо call on memories of my 
grandmother and my mom, where we were 
sitting in church, what we ate. In those formative 
years | learned about Aretha. And that is where 
| drift off to when it’s time for me to come back 
to my centre. It’s the same for Jennifer. So, no, it 
wasn’t hard to suspend it or put on and pretend, 
because we weren't pretending." 

Respect was always plotted to climax at the 


ж- 


= Climbing higher mountains: 

Ч (opposite page) Jennifer 
Hudson as Aretha at the piano 
gets to know the Muscle 
Shoals team; Hudson with 
director Liesl Tommy (above); 
Aretha-Jennifer with Dinah 
Washington (Mary J Blige). 


Respect 


Director: Lies! Tommy 
UNIVERSAL. 
Never less than thoroughly entertaining, 
frequently spine-tingling and touching 
delicately on the darkness that lay behind 
Franklin’s suspicion of outsiders, growing 
horror of exploitation and longer periods of 
withdrawal, Respect combines the “give ‘em 
the hits” rubric of aBohemian Rhapsody with 
aspirations towards a more nuanced 
psychological biography. Sometimes its 
broader strokes frustrate – Franklin’s dive into 
booze is communicated with a comically vast 
array of empties, and her redemption is 
conveniently abrupt - but the strength of the 
cast (Forest Whitaker is terrifying as Aretha's 
churchman father, Clarence) and attention to 
detail (the scenes at Fame are especially echt) 
offset, and there's barely a moment you're 
reminded that you're not watching the actual 
Aretha Franklin. Jennifer Hudson's 
performance, and singing, are that good. 
Danny Eccleston 


recording of Amazing Grace in 1972 at New 
Temple Missionary Baptist Church, Los Angeles, 
ledin call-and-response by the real James 
Cleveland. For Burgess, it's the psychological 
and spiritual crux of Franklin's journey. 

"Outside of success, Aretha found her centre 
again. She'd lost it. That's why she had such а 
strong reaction to releasing the film of Amazing 
Grace, even though it had been her idea. Our 
film could stop there because she got back 

to her base.” 
But if the meticulously recreated New 
Temple Missionary Baptist Church is where 
the film leaves Jennifer Hudson, it’s not 
where it leaves Aretha Franklin. As 
end-credits roll, real footage of the 
73-year-old singer at the Kennedy Center 
delivers us back to December 2015, where 
she pays tribute to Carole King, belting out 
(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman 
in front of the enraptured songwriter and 
stoked Obamas, throwing off her fur coat 
mid-homage. After two and a half hours 
investing in Aretha's ups and downs, it's 
overwhelming, and a surefire way of 
nailing even the fidgety to their fold-out seats. 
MOJO calls it audacious. Any misgivings from 
the people who made it? 

"| did wrestle with it,” Wilson admits. 
“Because, ugh, the biopic clichés! But here’s the 
real person! | knew the film would stand on its 
own merits, but that we should also see Aretha. 
It gave us a beautiful climax." 

“Why be frightened of showing her, in full 
flight?” Tommy adds. 

Why, indeed. % 


Respect isin UK cinemas from September 10. 


MOJO 45 





FROM DYLAN S HOME TOWN SPRING THE FRAGILE ECSTASIES OF LOW. 
FOR NEARLY 20 YEARS A BYWORD FOR QUALITY IN ALTERNATIVE ROCK. 
AND THAT'S IN SPITE OF THE UNIMAGINABLE DEMONS THAT HAVE 

TORMENTED ONE HALF OF ITS MARRIED CORE. AND THE FALLOUT FOR 
FAMILY AND FANS. “TESTING PEOPLE'S PATIENCE WAS AN INTEREST 
FROM THE BEGINNING” THEY TELL VICTORIA Ө 


PHOTOGRAPHY: NATHAN KEAY 








MALAL. 








AST SPRING, ALAN SPARHAWK AND MIMI PARKER 
started broadcasting a more-or-less weekly show from the 
basement of their house in Duluth, Minnesota — way north 
on the corner of Lake Superior. During It’s Friday, m In 























Low they played songs from their 13 albums, including 
their new one, Hey What. There have been covers (Move On 
Up, What Goes On, and at the urging of son and occa- 
sional bassist Cyrus, Childish Gambino’s Me And Your 
Mama) plus Vansplaining, a segment on life as a touring 
musician. In even quieter moments, Sparhawk visited the 

vegetable garden to show how his tomatoes are coming 





| along or explain how to harvest a beetroot. Equally 
wholesome — and inspired by the guitar lessons he gives to chil- 
dren at a nearby school — the man who has often said he feels his 
relationship with his audience is one of confrontation, taught 
viewers how to play Low songs. “It’s a lot easier than you'd think,” 
he deadpanned. 

“That’s what he insists,” laughs the brisk, friendly Parker, 
who has left her drum kit and is now sitting in her daughter > 2 


athan Keay 












f == AURA È ‚ | :% 
5“ ` : das е | [ d 
ME ied 


= T 
mia t" у 










Sheer weight of water: 
Low's Mimi Parker 

and Alan Sparhawk by 
Lake Superior, Duluth, 
Minnesota, May 10, 2021. , ^ 





а 1 


u—-X— шш 


“а ^ 
Зай Us 
лаң. B MOJO 47 
^ | e 7% 
ғ Е 


L3 Р к 


Orlic, LEGO, Getty, Nathan Keay 


= 


© 
М 







<< Hollis's calm green bedroom. “Не never feels like ТИР” Fan 


the songs are that complex." | 
“It’s kind of fun to show people that, ‘Yeah, it’s just | Ж ^ \ 
these three chords over and over again; you can do evan 
this,” says Sparhawk later. “It’s more about your crea- К 
tive decisions, and your personality, and the chances ili н 
you take. That’s what makes it interesting — not the AMI | 
fancy chords.” a 
In this case, those who can, teach: their decisions, 
their personalities, have made Sparhawk and Parker one of the 
most fascinating musical partnerships of the past 30 years. 
“Low is one of the all-time greatest American rock bands, bar 
says Jeff Tweedy, producer of their 2013 album The 
Invisible Way. “A great gift to anyone aspiring to make art. All 


none," 


you have to do is look to Low to see how high the bar is." 


IRIGINALLY BRACKETED IN THE MID-'90s WITH 
ЕН and Bedhead as ‘slowcore’, the dreamy fallout from 

Galaxie 500 and American Music Club, Low have spent 27 years 
in quiet evolution, moving from the elongated shadows of 1994's 
debut I Could Live In Hope to the end-times distortions of 2018’s 
ecstatically received Double Negative. Yet there is also a compelling 
backstage jostle between the transcendence of their music and the 
solidity of their domestic life. They are married, have never moved 
from Duluth, are Mormons, and when they had their daughter in 
2000, she came on the road in her car seat. “The marriage is basi- 
cally the band,” says Parker. “We’ve 
had a number of bass players and m 
sure it’s been challenging at times for 
them to deal with us.” Zak Sally, Low 
bassist between 1995 and 2005, 
agrees. “Navigating that stuff for 
everybody isn’t easy. Are they my 
bandmates? Are they my best friends? 
Are they my family? Arguments or 
disagreements — or even agreements 
—can come up and it’s like, ‘OK, are 
we talking about the band or the mar- 
riage?’” (Bassist Steve Garrington, 
who arrived for 2011’s C’mon, left 
during last year’s lockdown: “I wanted 
to acknowledge the weariness I felt 
from travelling and touring,” he tells 
MOJO. “I sensed another path and 
I want to be open to possibilities 
presented along the way.”) 


аны 


LOW 


If the British press in particular 
were quick to label them “quiet mar- 
ried Mormons”, did their congrega- 
tion pigeonhole them as “in a band”? 

“Its still a conversation starter 
among people that we know,” says Parker smiling. “They 
have a lot of questions.” If she meets somebody who 
doesn’t listen to much music, she says, she might bring up 
Low’s Christmas EP from 1999 — a collection of carols 
and festive songs that saved their financial skin when Parker was 
pregnant with Hollis and their beautiful drone version of Little 
Drummer Boy was used ina advert. 

“Everybody [in the community] wants everybody to understand 
that they’re well-rounded people and they’re not judgmental,” says 
Sparhawk. “I think it’s just refreshing when they have something 
they can point to and say, *They're doing something interesting and 
edgy — but they still believe in being kind and they'll sit next to you 
in Sunday school.’ 

“Having a mental breakdown a couple of years back really helped 
clear the air,” he continues. “I think everybody in the congregation 
knows that I’m struggling just like everybody else. I think every- 
body who needs to know knows that I'm troubled and that I’ve also 
had some drug issues from time to time and some pretty odd 


48 MOJO 


“Minnesota hick farm 
kids”: Low 1994 (from 
left) John Nichols, 
Alan Sparhawk, Mimi 
Parker; (top) 1999’s 
Christmas and new 


album Hey What. 


E 
+ 


I Gites 


behaviour here and there. I'm prett y 
comfortable with that and anybody 
who would look sideways at you for 
that... I don't know if that bothers 
me, really." 

Recorded, like Double Negative 
and 201 5's Ones And Sixes, with Bon 
Iver associate BJ Burton, Hey What 
continues their investigations into 
broken communication, internal 
struggle, survival. Yet unlike their 
predecessors’ craters and quicksands, 
these songs feel as if they have 
emerged from a fog into somewhere 
high and bright, briefly able to see 
above the clouds. The galactic folk- 
metal of More, says Parker, is a protest song. Opener 
White Horses, meanwhile, is about *this search for tran- 
scendence, this surrender to the universe," says 
Sparhawk. “That song in particular came out of therapy. 
I'm always dealing with mental health stuff and there's been some 
moments where I've come to the surface and maybe taken a deep 
breath and that song came out of that. Let's try to see if there's 
some sense of something rising out of the ashes. That last record, 
we'd really redefined our vocabulary more so than most other 
records and what do you do after that? It wasn't necessarily, *OK, 
let's make it even crazier’ — it was more, ‘OK, this is a really inter- 
esting new language. Let's use this as a vehicle instead of a cage.” 

ULUTH IS THE BIRTHPLACE OF BOB DYLAN — AND AS A 
| result, laughs Sparhawk, houses “a few more kind of grizzly folky 

songwriters per capita than other places.” Dylan is “in the blood 
of the community” and for young punks like Sparhawk, he was 


something to kick against. “Of course,” he says, with one of his 


























Joy to the world: 
7 Sparhawk and Parker 
· at home, 2021; (right, 
_ top) on-stage, Madrid, ™ 
. 2013; (below) circa 
The Invisble Way (from 


left) Steve Garrington, | 
Sparhawk, Parker. n 


| 








many resigned laughs, “you also want to be that mysterious artist that 
has never-ending integrity no matter what twists and turns you take." 

Sparhawk moved to Minnesota from Utah when he was eight or 
nine, meeting Parker shortly after: his family's home was “this 
sketchy 280-acre piece of land that was mostly swampy and had 
some fields. We raised cows. I milked goats by hand pretty much my 
whole adolescence, drove a tractor, harvested oats and hay. It was a 
farm and it sucked and it was dangerous. You see a lot of death and 
a lot of suffering." 

His father was a drummer, “kind of a jazz guy" with a country 
background; Sparhawk and his family would sing in church. *When 
I was 14 or 15 my parents were divorced and picking up the guitar 
was kind of my own thing. Punk rock was exciting, it felt like, *This 
is my own world, this is my language.” 

There were, however, problems with being an obsessed teenager 
“out in the sticks”. “There just weren't hardcore shows to go to 
right away when I was 15 — I had to read about them or hear about 
them from cousins or friends who lived in bigger cities. I had to 
learn it all myself." 

Parker comes from a similarly musical background — her mother 
was an aspiring country singer and she grew up listening to Waylon 
Jennings, Willie Nelson, a little gospel. Her sister played guitar with 
a performer's ambition, taking Parker to sing Joy Io The World at 
senior citizens centres. “She would sing the lead and I would sing 
the harmony," says Parker. *I was pretty shy and didn't really see 
that as my future. Honestly, it wasn't until we started the band that 


ti 11 








I really felt like this was something I could do. I was still very timid 
and shy and it’s safe to say Alan kind of dragged it out of me.” 
Parker’s voice remains one of Low’s natural wonders: Zak Sally 
describes it as “just like water going down a stream”. It's not just beau- 
tiful — there’s an implacability to it, a clarity that’s key to the band’s 
ability to disturb and disrupt. “Some people will say, ‘Oh, she sounds 
like an angel,” Parker says, “but mostly I'm thinking, ‘Hmm, I don't 
know if I want to sound like an angel — it sounds maybe too nice.” 
Ask Sparhawk what Parker dragged out of him, and he smiles. 
“She dragged a shred of integrity out of me. I’m the id and she has 
helped me to point my chaos in more productive directions.” 
Parker is, says Sparhawk, “very private” but he quickly realised 
there was nobody he would rather be in a band with. Working at 
Duluth’s lakeside DECC Arena, he found a drum in the basement 
and brought it home to her. “I’ve known her since we were kids; I 
knew that she had an amazing voice and I knew that she loved music 
and she had as acute a taste as anyone I knew. I coerced her for sure, 
coaxed her in, but that’s been the nature of our relationship. I had 
to convince her into kissing the first time we were out, too.” 
He laughs and shakes his head. “That sounds terrible! To this day 
she’s very cautious and I have to consider that when we’re navigat- 


ing in public.” 


F DOUBLE NEGATIVE WAS THE MOST DRAMATIC WRENCH- 
ing of the band’s sound into new forms, their experimental im- 
pulse is not new, even predating the 14-minute Do You Know > 


MOJO 49 


<< How To Waltz on 1996’s The Curtain 
Hits The Cast, or 1997’s abstracted Songs 
For A Dead Pilot EP Sally, who joined 
Low for 1995's Long Division after original 
bassist John Nichols left, first met Parker 
and Sparhawk when he was 15. He and 
Sparhawk formed a band called 12:38, 
their fondness for Big Black and Joy Divi- 


sion cut with curiosity about Scratch Acid 





THE NETHER WORLD 


Six of the best LOW albums, by Vietoria Segal. 


| COULD LIVE IN HOPE 


(Vernon Yard, 1994) 
{ 7% This, then, is slowcore (a useful 
term, says Sparhawk wryly, for 
distinguishing Low from “black 


he was the Antichrist; Sally would shortly 
leave the band. Sparhawk says: “We’d 
done The Great Destroyer with Dave Frid- 
mann and we’d kind of got a feeling of, 
‘This guy really likes to go more extreme,’ 
so coming into Drums And Guns we were, 
like, ‘Let’s take the lid off this and see if we 
can do something different.’ Again, mean- 
while, I was losing my mind. Completely 


metal or hip-hop”). The drowsy 
closing cover of You Are My 
Sunshine isn’t entirely in keeping 
with the rest of Low’s Kramer-produced debut, a 
record that picks up dark threads from Joy Division 
and early Cure as muchas Galaxie 500. 


a ee хслс атт 


апа Jandek. They would play over а back- head on fire doing Drums And Guns.” 
ing tape that mixed Sounds Of The Barn- 
yard sound effects and Madonna. “We’d 


play Sister Ray for way longer than any- 





PARHAWK IS, HE SAYS, “A LITTLE 
raw” today — he is sporadically gripped 


one could or should. That’s only relevant by nausea, shutting his eyes until it 


to Low in that ‘testing people’s patience’ SECRET NAME 


was an interest from the very beginning. 
In 1994, Sparhawk, Parker and Nich- 


ols drove to New Jersey to record I Could 


passes. Sitting in a darkened room, 
his long hair lending him the incon- 


(Kranky, 1999) gruous air of Robert Plant or a 


“The light it burns your 
skin/In a language you don't 
understand”: no Low song 
dances closer to the mystical 
edge than Two Step. 
Elsewhere on their beautiful 
fourth album, the sweetly 
stupefied Starfire ("I'll load 
the back and you can drive”) 
showed Low could write a parallel-universe hit - 
improbably facilitated by working with Steve 


charismatic commune leader, 
Live In Hope with Shimmy-Disc supremo Sparhawk is recalling a recent con- 
Kramer. They were, says Parker, *Minne- versation with Sally. He lives two 
sota hick farm kids, basically — we'd been hours away in Minneapolis — “an 
out of the state maybe once, to Wiscon- indescribable wasteland right now 


of post-police violence and racial 


sin.” By their fourth gig, at New York’s 





Knitting Factory, they realised they were discord,” says Sparhawk sadly. As he 


not destined to be hometown Friday repeats their discussion about mu- 


night favourites. “We were weird enough sic’s healing power, he begins to weep. “If 


maybe for just one or two people to come Apini, the math of the solar system is the math 
up to us and tell us that was really great. THINGS WE LOST i THE FIRE of the music system, then there’s some- 
That was just enough.” | dom iai thing going on here," he says, his voice 

Their quietness was, in the early days, (Kranky, 2001) rising and cracking. *We need to be using 
its own form of confrontation, forcing 2120000 Theirsecond recording with Albini, that, we need to be having ceremonies, 
audiences to listen, lean in — or to react (0754. thisalbumisalmostlushly adorned we need to be making music that heals 


with hostility. *We played CBGBs in New f cE БАНАН НТ ЕДЕН TIUS, this world. We’re пос going (о do it by 


, e Ime) loss of strangeness on Sunflower 
York and the sound guy was like, ‘You YD AE or Dinosaur Act, though, while 


42,4 Parker’s Embrace and In Metal are 
cosmic additionsto the small canon of poignant, 
visceral songs about childbirth and motherhood. 


THE GREAT DESTROYER 


(Sub Pop, 2005) 


Robert Plant covered the 
ominous Monkey on his Band 

Of Joy record from 2010 - an 
indication of Low's move 
towards a heavier sound. Maybe 
it was because it was their first 
record for Sub Pop or with Dave 

_ Fridmann; maybe it was just 

| anexpression of the band’s 

` turbulentinternal workings 


at the time. 
ble way of drawing the whole audience 


DRUMS AND GUNS 


in. (Sub Pop, 2007) thing gets heavy or I start having to talk 
In 2001, Low asked the Australian trio 


и | Tapping into the febrile geopoliti- 
to join them recording the In The cal climate of the Iraq War and 


George W Bush-era America, 
Low’s fierce, fractured eighth 
album anticipated Double 
Negative's last-ditch transmissions 
from a degraded planet. With the guitar stripped 
out and disintegration loops drilled in, it’s Low 
putting barbed wire around their comfort zone. 


arguing and we're not going to be doing it 
guys sing like mice,’” says Parker. “But I by killing each other.” He wipes his eyes. 
guess it wasn’t enough to disturb us.” “Tm sorry to go off like this in the middle 
Warren Ellis toured the US with Low in 
1998 after his group The Dirty Three 


released Ocean Songs; “Everyone 


of a question. I am trying, despite all my 
weaknesses and all my flaws, to try to 
send this stuff to try and tip this universe 
was so loud and messy — we were a little bit towards the positive. I'm just 
trying not to screw that up.” 

He steadies himself. “This is good 


emotion,” he says. “This is acknowledg- 


still on the coattails of grunge. 
They had this incredible power 
that a lot of groups didn’t have. 
They could draw you into their ing truth.” 

Sparhawk is forthright in describing 
the effect his breakdown had on him. “It 


sucks. It makes people around me un- 


world without pummelling you 
over the head with volume, 
which was certainly what we did 
with The Dirty Three. We went 
for it, blood and spit and just 





comfortable sometimes and I don’t want 
to do that. I don’t like beating myself up 
hammering it, but they had this incredi- all the time and I don’t like having psy- 


chosomatic reactions every time some- 


about anything. Since then, it’s been re- 
ally difficult, a really step-by-step flawed 
Fishtank EP: “They were so precise and process of trying to recover and not get 
dedicated and so controlled — kind of like 


everything we weren’t,” says Ellis, who 


that bad again. I’m glad I have music, I’m 
glad I have a creative place to process 
calls the band “extraordinary”. Sally those things — I think it’s been really vital 


confirms this. “It was, ‘How do we do to any sense of recovery or any sense of 





this exact thing in the most precise and Martial bliss. survival. But I'd gladly pass it all.” 

controlled way possible?’... If you're | Did they ever think it was best 

invisible, you're doing your job well." DOUBLE NEGATIVE they stop being Low? "Even 
= Low would go on to work with Steve though he was really a little un- 
Е“ Albini on 1999’s Secret Name and 2001's (Sub Pop, 2018) — | grounded, he never lost his focus 
2 тру he Fi d а Twenty-five years into their hi Бү lorie banl 
Things We Lost In The Fire, and Dave Frid- ЕТСЕ ПЕН or his ambition for the band,” says 
E mann on 2005's The Great Destroyer and its record to date, a collection of Parker. “Maybe you couldn't talk 
3 2007 follow-up Drums And Guns. In 2005, songs that almost buckled and to Alan on that day, but you could 
o h SUE ; d blackened while they played. Ik Кок һе? 
с however, »parhawk experienced a cata- "It's notthe end/It's justthe end talk to me. For the most part hes 
3 clysmic breakdown in which he believed of hope," sang Sparhawkon so dedicated to it, he loves it so 


Dancing AndFire, which proved 
acrowd-pleasing sentiment. Made for these times. 


50 MOJO 


much and yeah, he’s definitely kept this band going all these years. 
My personality is such that I tend to bring a calmness to it but it’s his 
energy, and it’s his focus that really pushes us along. And at the time 
it was really stressful, it was really hard but he was not ever at the 


point where he stopped.” She laughs. “Which is kind of crazy.” 


648 LL NIGHI/YOU FOUGHT THE ADVERSARY/IT WAS NO 
ordinary fight,” Low sing on Hey What’s wondertul prog 
spiritual All Night. Sparhawk identifies the adversary as “likely 

yourself — or the draw within you to pull away from a righteous 

place”. He might have joked their songs are “easier than you’d 
think”, but their continued existence feels like the opposite, a for- 
ward march through difficult terrain. 

“The first album we did was probably 24 hours of work,” says 


| ШІ 1111 
ШІЛ! 


Т | t ith t ! | 
mul il 
ІШ | | 

n 


| (| I е) | t 


ШІ 
d Hi | A 
| 


* 


| 1" 
| | ! | 
ІІ! 
ІШ | г Ii 
anml 1 
ІТ 


| iil Mil 


TA li hi 
m ^ 


Li Th " П ТІ, 
I ШІ! |! 
Lon EP ET || 
ІШІП 
ШІН 
ІІ 
$ 


|| l i 
І 


| Midwestern gothic: Mimi and Alan, 
| Duluth, 2021; (above, from left) 


Sparhawk and Parker with The 
Invisible Way producer Jeff Tweedy 
at Wilco’s Loft studio, Chicago, 2013; 


E Alan with son Cyrus during 2010's 


C’mon sessions; Parker and Sparhawk 
at the altar, St David’s Historic 


| Sanctuary, Austin, TX, March 13, 2018. 





Sparhawk. “The second one we did in a week. It was already pretty 
forward thinking for us even to be in the studio, so setting up and 
playing our songs and then overdubbing the vocals, that was new to 
us. And now new to us is running the vocals through a vocoder and 
on to a grid to get triggered by a drum machine and then we re- 
pitch it through something else and you get something different. 
That’s the frontier now. It’s a good struggle.” 

“Every record we’ve ever made, at some point we’d scratch our 
head and say, ‘What is this? Is this anything?’” says Parker. “By the 
time we’re done with it, you hope you’ve figured it out and you’re at 
a place you want to be. And that’s kind of what happened this time.” 

After all those words that have labelled Low down the years — 
slowcore, Mormon, married, quiet — she hits upon the one that fits 
best. “It’s miraculous.” М; 


МОЈО 51 





EYEWITNESS | 


READING 88 _ 
PISS-BOTTLE 
APOCALYPSE 


Out of sync with the times and changing audience demands, 
it was the twilight of Berkshire’s venerable National Rock Festival. 
But its death-throes were a horrorshow of mud, blood and beer. 
When Saturday's Rock Night included ұ( , 
ала |  ,afurious army of headbangers and 
chaos-lovers responded by pelting the stage with projectiles filled 
with urine. “It was a non-stop aerial assault,” shudder the 
survivors. “They broke Meat Loaf’s nose...” 








0 LOIS WILSON * DEREK RIDGERS 





Alamy 





Derek Ridgers, 





52 MOJO 





No sleep 'til Agincourt: 
how music festivals used 

to be - sending a dispatch 
from the Reading frontline, 
August 26, 1988. 

















= 





No way to treat a lady: (clockwise 
from left) super trooper Bonnie 
Tyler stands firm at Reading '88; 
crew Clear the stage of bottles 
and other items following Tyler’s 
performance; Uriah Heep’s Mick 
Box (left) and Bernie Shaw rock 
on; the Reading Rocket 1988 
festival programme. 


“BONNIE TYLER WAS 
AS 99 


Mirrorpix (3), PG Brunelli/Iconicpix , Iconicpix (2), Getty (4), Joe Dilworth, Fredie Vinson, P. Moore, Avalon 


Paul Blinkhorn 


<_the’70s. It had been a big deal, but by ’88 it 
had lost its way. The audience was mainly Hells 
Angels and biker types, nothing wrong with 
them, but the booking was wrong. 


Peter Coyne: We'd played Reading '87 and 

that was fine, but Reading '88 was a festival іп 
transition. We played the ‘alternative day’ with 
The Wonder Stuff, Ramones and Iggy Pop 
headlining and it was like the Battle of Agincourt, 
but instead of the sky being black with arrows 
raining down, it was glass and plastic bottles 
filled with piss, cans of beer, lumps of turf and 
clods of earth and whatever missiles the drunken 
crowd could muster. 


Paul Blinkhorn: There was a knack to throwing 
bottles. Empty bottles flopped, half full ones did 
a slow loopy spin and full ones went up dead 
straight, or spun really fast. If they left the tops off 
the audience would get most of it. A full two litre 
plastic bottle of piss is heavy - my crew-buddy 
got one square inthe nuts and went down like 
he’d been shot. It got one of the biggest cheers 
of the weekend. 


MH: Because you're so fired up, you're working 
at a faster speed so any incidents that occur that 
you wish weren't occurring go into almost slow 
motion, and that was what it was like with the 
bottles. They were coming towards you in slow 
motion, so somehow you were able to dodge 
them, and we left the stage pretty much 
unscathed. I’ve seen footage of our performance 
on YouTube since and l'm definitely over- 
compensating with the cockiness. At one point 
I'm going, "We've got loads of the fucking stuff 
backstage. You must have paid for that shit 
sucker.” Embarrassing. 


PC: We opened our set with | Want Everything 
[chorus: “I want everything and | want it now"] 


54 MOJO 


and it was a non-stop aerial assault. | was wearing 
an all-white suit, not sure why, and |I managed to 
keep it clean. Atthe end I remember shouting: 
“All you dirty hippies out there, this is still the 
Persil white you only get with The Godfathers!” 
By then we were actually quite enjoying it. 


PB: Friday was bad but Saturday, l'd never seen 
anything like it before or since. Bonnie Tyler came 
onand they were throwing plastic beer glasses 
filled with shit scooped out of the overflowing 
bogs by the side of the stage. 


Bonnie Tyler: It wasn’t a very nice experience, to 
be honest... oh my god... itwas horrendous, just 
people throwing bottles and my band just ran off 
the stage and | said, “Stay here boys, they're nota 
good shot.” 


Chuck Burghi: Me and Meat's guitarist Bobby 
Kulick were watching from the side of the stage 
and she was getting pelted with mud balls. 

We looked at each other and | said, "This might 


get ugly.” 


PB: Bonnie was an absolute trooper. She stood 
there, looked them in the eye and did not give ап 
inch. Afterwards she was backstage swigging 
wine straight out the bottle, with a proper 
thousand-yard stare. She was as hard as nails. 
We had to mop the stage down afterwards, and 
one of her crew was scraping noodles off the 
backline. It was like mopping down a farmyard. 


MB: We followed Bonnie Tyler on, went straight 
into it, no subtlety, just rocked, didn't give 
anyone time to breathe. Then Meat Loaf went 
on, got bottled and walked off after one song. 


CB: It started with a few small bottles and then 
someone threw a crushed can so it was like a 
metal frisbee and it hit my cymbal and fell on the 





drums. The spotlights were coming in from out in 
the fields and were blinding so you couldn't see 
anything until it hit you or the stage. | was just 
thinking, this could take out an eye or some 
teeth. Meat was so pissed. But we had a pow wow 
and he said, "Let's go back on and finish this.” 

So we went back on and he announced to the 
crowd: “If you see anybody throwing anything 

at us, kick his ass.” So the crowd started up again. 


MB: Our bassist Trevor Bolder had given hima 
pep talk and said, “If you don't go back on the 
press will kill you.” So he went back on, started 
doing one of his big ballads, head back, eyes 
shut, and within 30 seconds a bottle hit him 
straight on the nose and he went down. 


PB: He was out cold, and there was blood 
everywhere. Ме and my crew-mate went out 
there to try and fend off the bottles that were 
coming in while his management got him off. 
He came back a bit later, launched into a tirade, 
gota load of bottles back in return, gave the 
crowd the finger and stomped off. 


ВТ: They broke Meat Loaf's nose... and the 
audience were going, "Bonnie, Bonnie come 
back" because he'd buggered off. He only did, 
like, three songs and said, “I'm not staying here 
to be abused." 


CB: We were going to Meat, "What aboutthe 
show?" And he was, "That'sit, we're leaving." 
We got on the tour bus and were off. 


MB: We thought the whole thing was very funny, 
but it wasn’t for the promoters, of course. 


PB:It was very noticeable that the Yanks hated 
the bottling whereas most of the British bands 
thought it was a laugh. On the Sunday John 
Otway's manager got us to collect bin bags of 













empty bottles from the pitand ata 
given signal we bottled him from both 
wings of the stage and the crowd all 
cheerily joined in. 


VP: | was running the Powerhaus in 
Islington and the Mean Fiddler in 
Harlesden, and then І gota call from 
the Pendleton office. Were we 
interested in getting involved? We'd 
never booked a festival before but we 
knew we could doit, we were excited 
at the prospect. We struck a deal. Mean 
Fiddler would book the festival and 
own 50 per cent of it. 


Daveid Phillips: We met the 
Pendletons and there couldn't have 
been a bigger clash in our personalities 
and background. They were really 
stuffy, at one point Harold stood up 
and said, "You're bloody communists." 
Vince shrugged, “I've been called 
worse." Wethen systematically got rid 
ofthe old ways, from the outdated 
‘trumpet on the chair’ logo to the word 
‘rocks’ in the title to the people who 
had been working there for 20 years in 
their Motorhead T-shirts who thought 
it was OK to be rude to everyone and 
call girls ‘chicks’. 

It was a battle all the way. | 
remember one phone call when they 
said, “There’s a band on the bill that are 
too offensive, we can’t have them.” 
Butthole Surfers? No, Gaye Bykers On 
Acid. “Is itthe acid bit? The gay bit?” 

It was unbelievable. 


VP: Soon as the deal was done, Daveid 
апа |started going to European 


! Meat Loaf 











Heep guitarist 


Bonnie Tyler: 
solo star 


Chuck Burghi: 


drummer 





Vince Power: 
founder of the 
Mean Fiddler 
organisation 





E ' 
"a. 


Peter Coyne: 
singer, The 
Godfathers 





Miles Hunt: 
The Wonder Stuff 
frontman 





Paul Blinkhorn: 


festival stage 
crew, TV archae- 
ologist 





Daveid Phillips: 


Mean Fiddler 
booker 





Peter Hook, 
New Order bassist 


Mick Box: Uriah 


“ E E 1 
Pes uM 


festivals to see how they did it. They 
had better stage set-ups, decent 
toilets, vegetarian food. 


DP: They'd also have bands like New 
Order and The Cure ona stage with Joe 
Jackson and no one batted an eyelid. 
| liked New Order, Blue Monday 1988 
had just been in the charts again and 
they'd just had a Number 1 with 
Technique. They knew what was 
required of afestival set, so we got 
them to headline the first night in 
1989. It set the benchmark of what 
we wanted to achieve. 


VP: 1 went up to Manchester and | sat 
round the table with Rob [Gretton, 
manager] and he said, "What makes 
you think you can make Reading a 
success?" | said, “I can give you 100 
grand," and he said, "OK then." 


Peter Hook: Reading came offthe 
back of our biggest dates in America, 
we were playing to 30,000 people, and 
playing really well. This was despite 
not getting on atall and nearing our 
end.There was reluctance to do 
Reading from some members, Bernard 
was desperate to work with other 
people, butthe money wasa solace. 


PB: New Order had the first barrel- 
lasers used ata UK festival and we 
spent the Thursday night helping the 
lighting crew hang and test them. 
We finished about Зат and a cheer 
went up. We swung a spotlight into 
the area and there was a few hundred 
acid-heads there going bonkers and 
demanding an encore. 


Bottled out of hell: (clockwise) 
Meat Loaf, shortly before the fall, 
August 27, 1988; the festival-goers 
regroup апа reload for the next 
assault; The Wonder Stuff’s Miles 
Hunt orders more free beer; Uriah 


Heep, the view from the trenches. 


DP: | remember sitting on the top of the PA оп 
the first day and looking out and suddenly there 
were all these clouds of dust. They’d opened the 
gates and the kids were running across the field 
and they were hanging on {о the barrier at the 
front and suddenly the field was full and we'd 
sold out. Gaye Bykers came on and it went 
mental. You then got Spacemen 3, My Bloody 
Valentine, Tackhead, Swans, Sugarcubes, New 
Order. It was overwhelming. 


PH: 1 watched Jimi Hendrix at Monterey a few 
days before and saw him set fire to his guitar and 
| thought, “Maybe I'll do that and that will show 
the band how hurt lam and how bad | feel about 
us splitting up.” On the night it was windy and 

| was spraying the lighter fluid and fuck me, it 
wouldn't light. | was fucking miserable but the 
audience had an amazing time and we rescued 
Reading. We were heroes. 


PB: By 1990 it was utterly rammed and the 
audience was noticeably younger. That’s when 
the kids who'd just finished their exams started 
to appear. You started getting Mick Jagger and 
Jerry Hall backstage too. 


DP: It was the beginning of what people think 
ofthefestival experience. We changed the 
cultural landscape. 


MB: After '88,it was obvious that the whole 
festival dynamic had to change. It was a case of 
cut your losses and get new people in. It became 
avery different kind of festival from then on. Q) 


Bonnie Tyler interview from The Cambridge Union 
Society 2015. 


Uriah Неер5 Every Day Rocks vinyl box set is released in 


September. For more info on Reading and beyond, see 
www.ukrockfestivals.com 


MOJO 55 


"m 


a 





















BOE DYLAN and the ‘80s: a match 
made in hell? Thats how it seemed 
as successive albums mangled the 
muse. But as a new Bootleg Series 
release reveals, and his collaborators 
recall, there were riches along with 
the reverb - even if the singer was 
often flying Blind. ІС was a matter 
of survival, discovers а АИА 


Js іш ё ШЫН Y DIFFICULTY IN MAKING А RECORD,” BOB 
Ше» 7 l= DN | М Dylan said in a low, rattling monotone, sitting by the 
ЖІ > rooftop pool of a Los Angeles hotel one evening in 

== Еа the fall of 1985, “is that when I record something in 


the studio, it never sounds anything like it when I 
get the tapes back. Whatever live sound I’m working on, it always gets 





lost in the machines.” 

Dylan almost seemed to disappear himself as he spoke, receding into 
the black leather jacket draped over his shoulders and the darkening sky 
behind him. “Years ago, I could go in, do it and it would translate onto 
tape,” he went on between swigs from a bottle of Heineken and slow 
drags on a Kool cigarette. “It gets so cleaned up today that anything 
wrong you do doesn’t get onto the tape. 

“And my stuff,” Dylan added curtly, “is based on wrong things.” 

That year, the singer, 44, seemed to be everywhere at once: visible, 
industrious, even willing to play the pop star. His latest album, Empire 
Burlesque, released in June, was Dylan’s third studio album in five years, 
a work rate that included tours for 1981’s Shot Of Love and 1983’s 
Infidels — the latter co-produced with a younger friend and fan, singer- 
guitarist Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits. A month later, Dylan closed the 
Philadelphia end of Live Aid, then played with a new backing band, ‘Tom 
Petty And The Heartbreakers, at the inaugural Farm Aid in September. 
And in November, Dylan issued his first box set, the career-spanning 
Biograph, attending a New York gala for the release where he mingled 
with David Bowie, Billy Joel and Iggy Pop. “I’m always accused of not 
being helpful,” Dylan cracked that night in LA. 

Dylan was also in his first, sustained cold spell, critically and com- 
mercially, since he was a protest singer. Shot Of Love — a mixed bag of 
sermon and country barroom signalling Dylan’s gradual emergence 
from evangelical Christianity — and Empire Burlesque, a startling turn to 

¢ hyper-pop gloss, sold poorly, peaking outside the Top 30. Infidels — 
= featuring Knopfler and ex-Rolling Stone Mick Taylor on guitars with 
= Jamaica’s premier rhythm section, drummer Sly Dunbar and Robbie 
2 Shakespeare, in the pocket — went gold but only got to Number 20, 
© lower than the 1973 off-cuts mess, Dylan. > 









<< То varying degrees, Dylan’s first albums of the 





'80s were doomed to disappoint, binding his loyalty 
to folk-blues forms and impulsive genius as a vocalist 
and bandleader to an unbending modernism and 
futile hit-radio outreach that stranded some of his 
best writing in a decade — the honky-tonk affection 
in Shot Of Love’s Heart Of Mine; the Infidels 
grenades License To Kill and I And I; the Empire 
love song Emotionally Yours — in gated reverb and 
overwhelming production. The rotating session crews 
were mostly veteran associates — bassist Tim Drummond; 
drummer Jim Keltner; Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood 
— and energised disciples like pianist Benmont Tench and 
guitarist Mike Campbell of the Heartbreakers. 

But Dylan mixed Infidels without Knopfler, using 
a British engineer, Ian Taylor, whose most re- 
cent credit was The Cars’ Shake It Up. Mick 
Taylor (no relation) says Knopfler's rough 





board mixes were better, citing one song, Man 
Of Peace. On the album, Taylor says, “it didn’t 
sound the way I remember playing it.” 

Then Dylan completed Empire Burlesque with 
Arthur Baker, a hip-hop producer on a hot 
streak with acts including Afrika Bambaataa, 
New Edition and New Order. “It was a label 
thing,” admits Baker, who had recently done a 


Lynn Goldsmith/Getty, Getty (3) 


series of dancefloor remixes for another Colum- 


58 MOJO 


"E 


Not quite spring time in New York: Dylan 
in the Big Apple, 1983; (left) on-stage 

at the Warfield Theatre, San Francisco, 
November 1980; (right, from top) Sly 
and Robbie; Mark Knopfler; (insets 
below) controversial '80s albums. 


| bia artist, Bruce Springsteen. “It wasn't like Bob 
О! heard my remix of Dancing In The Dark and 
Я: said, "Yeah, I want Arthur to finish the record.” 
TY It was an unprecedented crossroads: the 
















preeminent singer-songwriter of his age 
on the outside looking in, struggling to 
connect in a new mainstream of согро- 
rate politics and emotionally distant 
technology. Dylan professed not to care. 
“Т never went into it as a business,” he 
said of music and songwriting in 1984. 
“Т went into it as a matter of survival.” 

Dylan put it another way, talking to 
Rolling Stone during a mixing session for 
Empire Burlesque: “What do I know about 
modern? I still listen to Charley Patton 
records." 


N FACT, HE CARED A LOT. SPRINGTIME 
In New York, the 16th volume in Dylan's Bootleg 


Series of forensic studio and concert anthologies, 





peels back the dated veneer and received wisdom of 
his early '80s to reveal — across 57 alternate takes, 
then-unissued songs and quixotic covers in the 
5-CD edition — a decisive, creative momentum 
barely hinted at on the LPs. You also hear a collabo- 
rative searching, grounded in Dylan's unspoken 























































“It gets so cleaned up today that 
anything wrong you do doesn't get 


onto the tape. And my stuff is 
based on wrong things.” | 


trust in his sidemen and recalling, in a helter-skelter way, his 
Basement Tapes summer with The Band and the simple caught-on- 
the-floor eloquence of 1967’s John Wesley Harding and 1969’s 
Nashville Skyline. 

And there is a vocal constancy: the fire and balm of the black, 
female chorales that Dylan brought over from the rock-circus 
sound of 1978% Street- Legal and the literal church of 1979's Slow 
Train Coming and 1980’s Saved. The singers — who included Clydie 
King from session trio the Blackberries; Queen Esther Marrow, 
a Duke Ellington discovery who sang at civil rights actions with Dr 
Martin Luther King, Jr; and Carolyn Dennis, part of Stevie Won- 
der's '70s troupe Wonderlove — were closer to Dylan than most 
people knew. He reportedly had an affair with King and was 
secretly married to Dennis in the late '80s. (They divorced in 1992.) 

Baker says that when he recorded vocals with Dylan for Empire 
Burlesque, “He wanted to sing lead while they were doing back- 
grounds — on the same microphone. I would explain to him, ‘If they 


mess up or you mess up, you have to do it again.' The technical 
process — he was not that savvy," Baker notes. *Or he was messing 
with me. I think half of it was messing." 

But Dylan was serious about his instincts. “His songs weren't 
complex, but you had to watch him," says guitarist Danny Kortch- 
mar, who played on Shot Of Love and appears on Springtime In New 
York, firing crisp blues and funk licks in an outtake romp through 
Mystery Train and the Dylan rarity, Need A Woman. “If he wanted 
a solo, he'd just barely look at me and nod. And you'd jump in and 
play. He was looking for authenticity of emotion and performance: 
‘Hit it, don't think about it.” 

“We didn’t rehearse the songs," Taylor says of Infidels. But he 
points to his guitar break in the ballad Sweetheart Like You as an 
example of Dylan’s power of suggestion. “He was very specific 
about how the solo should start. It wasn’t about the sound he wanted 
but the first few notes. He wanted the guitar solo at the end, the last 
thing you hear. So he wanted it to embellish the spirit of the song.” 

Previous reissues have touched on this era. Biograph included 
Caribbean Wind, a Shot Of Love orphan that never reached the sub- 
lime height of Dylan’s live readings in autumn 1980. The initial 
1991 instalment of The Bootleg Series marked the first public sighting 
— with Dylan on piano and Knopfler playing acoustic guitar — of 
Blind Willie McTell, a fevered vision of Delta-blues sorcery and 
brutal Southern history that eluded Dylan’s satisfaction at the time 
but is now one of his most acclaimed and covered songs. 

Springtime In New York — named after the heart of the set, two 
CDs of previously unissued material from the Infidels sessions at 
Manhattan’s Power Station in April and early May 1983 — is a 
broader, deeper account of a long-misunderstood turbulence. 
Rehearsals for a late- 1980 tour and the spring '81 work on Shot Of 
Love suggest a high old time: Dylan veering between Everly Brothers 
and Temptations songs, striking revivals from the canon (To 
Ramona) and ultimately sidelined gems (Borrowed Time; Is It 
Worth It?). The Infidels section exposes more of that album’s 
experimental drive in the electric, arguably definitive Blind Willie 
McTell and the evolutionary segue of Too Late, a song heard in 
same-day acoustic and band takes before Dylan's revised attack in 
this set, 48 hours later, as the explosive Foot Of Pride. 

“Bob had a habit of spontaneously starting a track,” recalls Dire 
Straits keyboard player and Infidels sideman Alan Clark. One day, he 
came back from a quick visit to the bathroom to find Dylan had 
kicked into the electric Blind 
Willie McTell without him. 
“Не was already into the first 
verse — I didn't even know 
what key it was in." Clark 
tried a chord on his Ham- 
mond organ, "fed up the vol- 
ume and took it from there. 

"Afterwards," he contin- 
ues, “it was either Sly or 
Robbie who came over and 
said, ‘Man, that chord was 
fantastic.’ It was actually a whole tone down from the key of the 
song. But it happened to work well in that moment. I got lucky.” 

Springtime In New York concludes with a vibrant reappraisal of 
Dylan’s mood swings on Empire Burlesque, highlighting the young 
guns embedded in the production: Campbell, Tench and Heart- 
breakers bassist Howie Epstein; Lone Justice drummer Don Ней- 
ington. Among the extremes are the Springsteen-my-way blast of 
When The Night Comes Falling From The Sky, cut with E Streeters 
Steve Van Zandt on guitar and pianist Roy Bittan; and the Decem- 
ber '84 draft of New Danville Girl, the epic road-trip-and-gunfight- 
er fantasia Dylan co-wrote with playwright Sam Shepard and re- 
leased two years later as Brownsville Girl. 

Steve Berkowitz, who co-produced Springtime In New York with 
Dylan's manager Jeff Rosen and has worked on the entire Bootleg 
Series, says ^what we discovered on these recordings is that — maybe 
like 1965, '66 — Dylan is focused and free. He has songs written. He 


feels fine about changing them — major to minor, fast to slow, > 


MOJO 59 


Ken Regan/Camera 5, Getty (4) 


<< extending verses. And when the red light 
goes on, he gives you his all.” 


Of the official LPs, “Shot Of Love is the 


one,” 


says Tench, who also played on that 
album, his first session gig with Dylan. “It has 
a lot of variety in the grooves, and the songs 
can break your heart.” Infidels is “a master- 
piece” with, he concedes, “a lot of reverb. But 
it sounds honest and true. Empire Burlesque is a 
curiosity — Bob is experimenting more than 
Га ever heard him do. 


“But the songs are all connected,” Tench 
adds. “Because the same guy wrote 'em down." 


AYLOR WAS OUT OF THE STONES 


for almost a decade when he first met 





Dylan — in January 1982 at the Roxy 
in LA where the guitarist was playing reunion 
shows with another ex-employer, John Mayall. 
“Mario told me Bob was specifically coming 
down to have a listen to me," Taylor says of 
Mario Maglieri, the club's owner, who used to 
sneak the underage ‘Taylor through the service 
entrance of his other Sunset Strip venue, the 
Whisky A Go Go, when Taylor was in Mayall's 
late-’60s Bluesbreakers. 

In a backstage room, Taylor and Dylan 
chatted and played guitars — “a couple of 
things in open tunings,” the former says. 
“Then he said, ‘I’m thinking of doing an 
album in New York, and I'd like you to play 
on it.” By April 1983, after his tour with 
Mayall, ‘Taylor was in New York to record with 
Dylan — who neglected to mention that Knop- 
fler was co-producing and playing guitar as 
well. ^I didn't know about Mark,” Taylor says, 
“until I got there.” 

Knopfler and Dylan also first met at the 
Roxy when Dire Straits played there in March 
1979 on their debut US tour. They bonded 
immediately. By May, Knopfler was in Ala- 
bama, at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, playing 
lead guitar on Slow Train Coming. “Гуе always 
felt protective of Bob,” Knopfler told MOJO 
in 1996. “The first time I met him I felt like 
putting my arm around his shoulders... I 
think he’s always had a difficult life, being 
deified virtually since he was a kid.” 

When I interviewed Knopfler in 1985 fora 
cover story in Rolling Stone, he said that as the 
producer of Dire Straits’ albums, “Ninety-five 
per cent of the time I like being the fearless 
leader. I just think that when you write a song 
and get it together, you want it done right.” 
For Infidels, though, “Because Bob had been at 
my house a few times to run down the stuff, it 
was usually easy to get something on tape. 
Because with Bob Dylan, he’s not necessarily 
going to be around to sing it more than two or 
three times.” 

The alternate takes and abandoned tunes 
on Springtime In New York resurrect the Infidels 
Dylan actually made, minus the totally-'80s 
echo that seemed to push that dream combo 
to the back of the tape. “Usually it’s the drum- 
mer and the bass player that make the band,” 
Dylan said in a 1987 interview. On Springtime, 
the Jamaicans bring their twist on the space 


and empathy Dylan enjoyed with Rick Danko 


60 MOJO 


SPRINGTIME 
In ПЕШ YORK: 


1980-1985 


DIaROGHBS 


Five revelations from 
the five COs of Bootleg 
16, by DAVID FRICKE. 


The Price ОТ Love 


This jangling 1965 stomp by The 
Everly Brothers was one of two singles 
by the siblings that Dylan covered on 
May 1, 1981 asa good-time break from 
Shot Of Love. The other, a slow caress 
of the 1960 Top 10 ballad Let It Ве Ме, 
crept out as a European B-side. “It was 
sucha joy to be there,” says Benmont 
Tench, who played оп both. 


Yes Sir, Na Sir 
Recorded on April 2, 1981, this dark, 
vigorous rocker would have been a 
great higher-gear addition to Shot Of 
Love. Dylan never played it again. Also 
cut that day: Fur Slippers, a sardonic 
blues suggestive of Little Feat around 
the campfire. Again, Dylan left it behind, 
but he got the ultimate compliment 
when B.B. King covered itin Mississippi 
gritin 1999. 


Blind Willie McTell 
“Iplay minimalist slide guitar,” Mick 
Taylor says of his role in this feral, electric 
magnificence from April 11, 1983, three 
weeks before the acoustic take first 
issued іп 1991. “І wouldn't call it blues 
playing -just little inflections, a 
call-response thing. A lot of people 
were surprised it wasn’t included. 

It was probably because Bob hadn't 
decided howto presentit.” 


License do Kill (live) 
“With this band, one thinks, Dylan 
could have set the world оп бге again,” 
critic Paul Williams wrote of Dylan’s 
fire-breathing mini-set on Late Night 
With David Letterman - broadcast on 
March 22, 1984, the singer armed with 
the wiry aggression of Latino-punk trio 
the Plugz (see MOJO 325). He never 
played with them again. See YouTube 
for the whole, blazing enchilada 
including a hard-charging Jokerman 
and Sonny Boy Williamson's Don't 
Start Me Talking. 


New Danville Girl 


Benmont Tench likens the changes that 
led to Brownsville Girl on 1986's Knocked 
Out Loaded (including the replacement 
of his and Mike Campbell's parts) to 

Walt Whitman’s multiple editions of 
Leaves Of Grass. The poet “revised it 
again апа again,” Tench says, “апа 
sacrificed some powerful stuff.” 

Dylan’s Girls, in turn, “bring you to 

this emotional level in different ways.” 
To have one without the other “is to 

miss out on a great version of that song.” 





and Levon Helm of The Band to wildly differ- 
ent settings: the slicing strut of Clean Cut Kid, 
an Infidels tryout of the Empire Burlesque track; 
the juke-joint crawl in Jimmy Reed’s Baby 
What You Want Me To Do; and the straight- 
arrow velocity of Julius And Ethel, Dylan’s 
oddly timed defence of the Cold War couple 
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, 30 years after 
their executions, in Sing Sing, for espionage. 

“Mark was planning on doing a lot of work 
afterwards,” including more of his own guitar 
overdubs, Clark says. “But he never got the 
chance. We had to go back on the road with 
Dire Straits. Then Bob went off and continued 
making the record in Los Angeles." 

“Bob said to me, ‘Can you stay and help me 
finish this?’” Taylor says. “I would have loved 
to, but I said, ‘I can't, Гуе got a tour lined up 
with John Mayall.' And Bob, being Bob, said, 
‘Oh, you don't really need to do that.” 

Dylan later explained the final Infidels — the 
reverb, his redone vocals, the altered running 
order that mystifyingly left Blind Willie McTell 
and Foot Of Pride on the shelf — this way: 
“Did you ever listen to an Eagles record?... 
Their songs are good, but every note is pre- 
dictable. You know exactly what's gonna be 
before it's even there. And I started to sense 
some of that on Infidels, and I didn't like it." 

In his 1992 Dylan study, Performing Artist, 
The Middle Years: 1974-1984, the late Paul 
Williams described the moody ennui of Infi- 
dels’ I And I as “a beautiful song, powerfully 
sung” but “marred” by a “melodramatic, 
heavily echoed” bass-drum pulse. “One part 
of him probably thinks this drum part sounds 
terrific,” Williams wrote. “Another part, in my 
opinion, cynically feels like he’s giving the re- 
cord company and the public what they want.” 

Dylan almost confessed as much to Rolling 
Stone’s Kurt Loder in a cover story after 
Infidels’ release, claiming he wanted to call it 
Surviving In A Ruthless World until “someone 
pointed out to me that the last bunch of al- 
bums Га made all started with the letter ‘s’.” 
When Loder asked how Dylan felt about the 
latest studio technology compared to the one- 
and-done immediacy of records like 196478 
Another Side Of Bob Dylan, the singer said he 
was planning a return to basics: 

“I think my next album is probably just 
gonna be me and my guitar and harmonica. 
I'm not saying all of it will be that way. But I’m 
sure a few songs will be. I know they will be." 


N FEBRUARY 19, 1985, ARTHUR 
Baker reported to the Power Station 





for his first day of work on Empire 
Burlesque. Dylan was in the middle of record- 
ing the hard-rock apocalypse When The Night 
Comes Falling From The Sky with Van Zandt, 
Bittan, Dunbar and Shakespeare — first as a 
power ballad, then revving up the tempo and 
arena-rock roar. 

"After they cut it," Baker recalls, *Bob said 
to me, ‘You know, I think it sounds too much 
like Springsteen.’ And I’m like, ‘You’re using 
his piano player and guitarist. I think it sounds 
good. But if you don't want it to sound like 


The middle years: (clock- 
wise from left) on-stage 
with Mick Taylor, Verona, 
Italy, May 29, 1984; 
Burlesque dreams in Paris, 
July 1, 1984; Dire Straits’ 
Alan Clark, Mike Campbell; 
producer Arthur Baker. 





“| 


“Bob said to me, 
‘Can цои stay and | 
help me finish this?" , 
I said, ‘Tve gota | 
tour with John 
Mayall” And Bob 
said, ‘Oh, you don't 
really need to do 
that.” 





Springsteen, don’t get Springsteen’s musicians.” The producer 
laughs. “That was our first interaction.” Dylan ditched the tracks 
and, with Baker, redid the song in a controversial thunder of brass 
and synthesizer that included a friend of Baker’s on guitar, Stu Kim- 
ball — a future member of Dylan’s touring group in the 2000s. 

In fact, Baker was a major Dylan fan; as a high-school student in 
Boston, he wrote a graduate paper on The Poetry Of Bob Dylan. 
Columbia Records didn’t know that. “They wanted me to modern- 
ise him a bit,” he says. “It was more like a fix-it job” with Baker 
recording vocal overdubs and remixing tracks that Dylan mostly 
recorded in LA in late 1984 and early '85. 

“It wasn't a lot of preparation,” Mike Campbell says of those 
sessions, represented on Springtime In New York by an early pass at 
the romantic eulogy РЇЇ Remember You and a jubilant rocker, 


Straight A’s In Love, that went directly to the cutting-room floor. 


“In that sense, it was very similar to the way I worked with my 


band,” referring to Petty and the Heartbreakers. Dylan “had this 





d 






















thing — just follow him. He knows where he's headed. Add to it the 
best you can. 

“Like on New Danville Girl,” which Campbell says came up at 
the end of his first week with Dylan. After Dylan played a tape of the 
track for the guitarist, ^he turned around at the end and goes, 
"What do you think?’ I said, ‘Well, it's kinda long.’ He looked at me 
and said, ‘Would you play on it anyway?” 

When Campbell put his overdub on the December 6, 1984 re- 
cording heard on Springtime In New York, every time Dylan sang the 
actor Gregory Peck’s name — a running gag in the song — “Га start 
laughing. You can tell he enjoyed himself writing it. I don’t even 
know what it’s about. I just got wrapped up in it. And it was fun.” 

Baker heard New Danville Girl at his first meeting with Dylan. 
“There was a boom box,” he says, “a bunch of cassettes and he 
started playing me tracks.” But the song never came up again. “Т had 
nothing to say about what was on the album. The thing we 
really worked on together was his vocals. Bob did a lot of them. > 


MOJO 61 














JESUS HAS 


^ Yun 
“ 1110389 


Г 


gad 


EXE 


T 


LÀ d 





George Lois, the history of art and the story 
of the Jokerman video. By MICHAEL SIMMONS. 


LARRY ‘RATSO’ SLOMAN was the 
embedded reporter with The Rolling 
Thunder Revue in 1975. His friend 
George Lois was an ebullient, audacious 
adman who also designed Esquire 
magazine’s iconic covers in the 1960s - 
including the аггом-ріегсеа Muhammad 
Alias the martyred St. Sebastian. But it 
was Lois's workto free boxer Rubin 
'Hurricane' Carter that brought him into 
Dylan’s realm. “Ratso organiseda 
meeting between me and Bob Dylan, 
which was when | proposed he write a 
song апа perform concerts їо raise 
awareness for Rubin,” recalls the 90-year 
old Lois today. 

By 1983, the success of MTV had 
made music videos de rigueur. The first 
Dylan promo for an Infidels track was for 
Sweetheart Like You, a dour effort 
directed by Mark Robinson with Dylan 
apparently serenading the cleanerinan 
empty club. Concert promoter Bill 
Graham Б Dylan’s manager at the time 
-asked Sloman if George Lois would take 
опа second video for a track of their own 
choosing. “George agreed and takes this 
on like a Madison Avenue campaign,” 
Sloman recalls. 

Picking Jokerman, Lois and Sloman 
brainstormed at the ad man's office. 
Ratso: “George says, ‘We gotta take the 
lyrics and blow them up, put'em right in 
your fuckin’ face because he’s the 
greatest lyricist ever.’ Then we talked 
about the visuals. We wanted to impress 
how Dylan’s songs areas great as the 
greatest artworks from antiquity to the 
present day.” Lois, who spent every 
Sunday at the Metropolitan Museum of 
Art, says “It was a no-brainer. Bob Dylan 
is an iconic work of artin and of himself.” 

They matched each line of the song 
to images ranging from Aztec and Greek 
sculpture to paintings by Bosch, Munch, 
Blake and Picasso. They animated the 
famous Milton Glaser poster of Dylan 
and superimposed the line “Shedding 
off one more layer of skin” over a 
montage of Dylan photos that covered 
his shapeshifting career. Over the line, 
“You rise up and say goodbye to no one,” 
they used Mantegna’s 15th century 


Lamentation Of Christ, partly because, 
as Lois told Ratso, “If you look, Jesus 
hasaboner!” 

They also decided to shoot Dylan 
singing the choruses, but on the day of 
the filming there was a problem. After 
the first take, Lois pulled Sloman aside 
and said, “He’s not opening his eyes – 
you gotta get him to open his eyes!” 

So between each take, Sloman would 
gently ask Dylan to open his eyes when 
he sang. Aside from a few momentary 
glimpses, this proved fruitless. “Finally 
George says, ‘You gotta tell him to 
fuckin’ open his fuckin’ eyes.’ І go over 
and he knows what’s coming. Апа Bob 
goes, ‘I’mtry-ing.’ He knew what he was 
doing ‘cos the last take -the final chorus 
– һе starts teasing, squinting. Finallyin 
the last fuckin’ image he opens his eyes 
and that baby blue charisma just flows! 
George and І were delighted – ‘Holy shit, 
we captured this guy’s essence!” 

Once it was edited, Dylan professed 
himself pleased with the video. But then 


Sloman tooka call from the singer. “He 
says, 1 like the video but! don't like me 
doin’ the chorus. Why don’t you come 
outto Malibu.We'll get a handheld 
camera, we'll go to the beach and you 
can shoot me doin’ the chorus.’ I call 
George and tell him...” But Lois was 
adamant - “Boring! My answer was, ‘No 
fucking way!” - and the video was 
released with the original footage. 
Later, Sloman visited Dylan while 
hewas on tourin France and gave him 
the news that the video had become 
a sensation. “Bob started laughing 
and said, ‘Either I'm crazy or the 
world’s crazy.” 






























































EJ 
Б; J. 
re 


+ 
19 
саты 








Ken Regan/Camera 5 














The touring trouper: Dylan passes the 
time outside UB40’s trailer at Slane 
Castle, Co. Meath, Ireland, July 8, 1984; 
(opposite page) stills from the Jokerman 
video, with statuary, Bosch, George Lois’s 
work and making eye contact, at last. 


“Tm hearing something really 
weird, өп І turned the volume 





<< But the issue was not him being unhappy 
with the take. He was rewriting. It was about 
him finishing the song lyrically. 

“If I had to do it over again,” the producer 
says of Empire Burlesque, “Га change a lot. I 
would have preferred it more stripped down. 
But I was in the middle. The record label wanted it polished and 
'80s. And Bob..." 

Baker pauses, then tells a story from one mixing session: “I’m 
hearing something really weird, so I turned the volume down. And 
it’s Bob" — sitting at the console with Baker — “singing Like A Vir- 
gin. And he’s like, *Can't we do something like Prince or Madonna?’ 
Yeah, he's taking the piss," the producer says. *On the other hand, 
I was working with tracks that, for the most part, were already cut.” 

The exception: Empire Burlesque's purely-solo climax, Dark Eyes, 
which now closes Springtime In New York as well in a quietly stirring, 
alternate performance. In his 2004 memoir, Chronicles, Volume 
One, Dylan credited the producer with speaking up in the final 
hours: *Baker kept suggesting that we should have an acoustic song 
at the end of the record, that it would bring everything to the right 
conclusion." That night, at his hotel, Dylan passed a call girl in the 
hallway with “blue circles under her eyes, black eyeliner, dark 
eyes... She had a beautifulness, but not for this kind of world.” 

“The next day, he came in,” Baker says, “and he played this 
song.” Baker remembers two takes before he left to catch a train to 
Boston. It was only after Chronicles was published “that I realised 
he’d written it that night. That blew me away.” 

In the book, Dylan acknowledged that it was the first time he 
wrote a song at a producer’s request. It was also “the right thing to 
do,” he said. “It did complete the album.” 


| ш Y THE TIME I INTERVIEWED DYLAN BY THAI HOTEL 


į pool in LA, Empire Burlesque had come and gone. “I’ve made 





all the difference I’m going to,” Dylan stated firmly as the 
sunset, as if on cue, turned to night. “My place is secure, whatever it 
is. I'm not worried about having to do the next thing or keeping 
in step with the times. I've sold millions of records. I've done 


down. And it's Bob singing 
Like A Virgin.” | 


all the big shows. I've had all the acclaim at one time or another." 

When Duran Duran's 1982 hit Hungry Like The Wolf came 
over the hotel PA, Dylan did not hide his contempt. *The kids are 
getting a raw deal," he growled. *Nobody's telling them anything 


through music any more." 

It sounded a lot like a retirement address but turned out to be 
more like au revoir to a music business that had changed more than 
he liked. For the rest of the 20th century, Dylan mostly lived with 
his music on the road, making studio albums with no apparent 
strategy, with intermittent success — 1989’s Oh Mercy, 19977 Time 
Out Of Mind — until he finally did the obvious in the 2 1st: recording 
with his touring musicians and producing himself (as Jack Frost). *I 
don't have to go on other people's trips of who they think I am,” 
Dylan remarked to Rolling Stone in 1987. “I feel like I'm a star, but 
I can shine for who I want to." 

That included Knopfler. Despite the abrupt end of their working 
relationship over Infidels, Dylan and the guitarist remained friends 
and collaborators. A few years ago, Knopfler toured with Dylan as 
his support act and a special guest on guitar during the headliner's 
set. And in February 1986, three years after Infidels’ release, Dylan 
and Knopfler kept running into each other as they both toured Aus- 
tralia. In Sydney, on a night off from Dire Straits' itinerary, Knopfler 
joined Dylan, Petty and the Heartbreakers on stage for their en- 
cores. A week later in Melbourne, Dylan played four songs with 
Dire Straits, including Infidels’ License To Kill. 

“Everything was fine by then,” Clark says. “Mark was disappointed 
at the way it went down" with Infidels. “But quickly got over it.” (0) 


Springtime In New York: The Bootleg Series Vol. 16 (1980-1985) is released 
by Columbia/Legacy in multiple formats on September 17. 


MOJO 63 


Crumpled profs distilling 








visions of post-war 
science and society with 
found sound and epic 
synths, 





are more 
Reith Lecture than pop 
group. After space and 
south Wales, their latest 
destination is Berlin. Is it 
one giant leap too far? “It’s 
brave, but is it wise?” they 
ask 























Photography by 


HERE ARE NO VISUALS IN WALTER RUTTMANN’S FILM WOCHENENDE 
(Weekend), an experiment in audio collage made in Berlin in 1930, yet your mind 
fills in the gaps: monochrome images of men working with machines, illuminated 
by sparks; a whistle signals shift’s end; marching bands in town squares; kisses 
beneath the trees in the Tiergarten. Four minutes in, a young woman, fashionably 
dressed in cloche hat, short skirt and Mary Janes turns towards us. “Mach schon,” 
she exhorts. “Let’s go!” 

That unknown fraulein is about to become a pop celebrity of sorts. “Berlin sounds so noisy then,” 





says J. Willgoose, Esq, of Public Service Broadcasting, whose fourth album, Bright Magic, is a mystical 
dive into the myths that obfuscate the reality of Germany’s capital city. “It’s fascinating to be trans- 
ported back in time by Wochenende and hear these voices of everyday Berlin almost a century ago. It 
just felt right to use her to open Im Licht, just before the album explodes musically.” 

MOJO and Willgoose meet by the Wall, under the watchful eye of the Stasi — in reality, a south Lon- 
don cafe, and we are harassed only by pigeons — to talk about Berlin, mythology and electricity. For 
security, we have both adopted fake names and the password is *Ouroboros". “It is a bit like a snake 
eating its own tail,” he concedes. “An album about people who move to Berlin to write albums about why 
they moved to Berlin to write an album. Everybody has their own version of this city in their heads. What 
is my version of Berlin that has given it this status, this kudos... and can we piggyback on that?” 


A 


Audio Dynamite’s snatches of Performance dialogue or Saint Etienne’s interstitials — of a concept album in © 





DECADE AGO, THIS WOULD HAVE SEEMED UNLIKELY. HAVING TRIED AND FAILED 


to make his way with various indie bands, Willgoose went solo, “mucking about” with samples, 





accompanying them on synths and guitar, until hitting on the idea — a step beyond, say, Big 5 


which each song was based on a different public information film. He found receptive ears helming > £ 


64 MOJO 








Do not adjust your sets: Public 
Service Broadcasting (from left) 
JF Abraham, J. Willgoose, Esq, 
Wrigglesworth, Мг В, at Ermine 
Works, east London, July 8, 2021. 





A giant leap: Public Service 
Broadcasting take The Race For 
Space to the stage, Hammersmith 
Apollo, 2017; (insets, from top) 
Marlene Dietrich, Anita Berber, 
David Bowie, new PSB album Bright 
Magic and earlier EP The War Room. 


“I WROTE A LINE YEARS 
АСО ТНАТ HAS Hou DEL aix 
райы ЛМЕ ) 





J. Willgoose, Esq 


<< the British Film Institute and StudioCanal archives, 
and Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) was born. 

“I wrote a line years ago that has haunted us ever 
since," he says. ““Teaching the lessons of the past 
through the music of the future,’ but it was tongue- 
in-cheek. Our look was that of the crumpled old left- 
wing intelligentsia, vaguely disorganised university professors who 
always wear brown corduroys, but I realised I could do more with it 
than just be slightly arch. I could use the samples to build a narra- 
tive, and if you do that it's more likely to have an emotional hook 
that people can grab on to." 

A second member, Wrigglesworth, joined — “Some tracks just 
sounded better with live drums" — and the EP The War Room and LP 
Inform-Educate-Entertain were released in 2012-13, with songs 
about the Blitz, Second World War fighter planes, mountaineers 
and mail trains. Its most affecting track, Lit Up, features the BBC's 
Thomas Woodrooffe, in his cups and describing George VI's Coro- 
nation Review of the Fleet in 1937; the corporation's apology for 
his performance giving the world the phrase “tired and emotional”. 
It's a fine line, however, between celebrating humanity and what 
today might be called *imperial nostalgia". 

“It’s important not to just hand these myths over to the national- 
ists," Willgoose counters. *There are many things to be unapolo- 
getically proud of in what Britain did in the War, but it was about 
trying to express that without being jingoistic, the irony of 
creativity begetting destruction, or of the triumph of human 


Shaun Gordon, Alamy, Tom Oldham (4), Getty (2) 


endeavour on Everest, balancing the lofty poetry of the narrative 


66 MOJO 


FT: ven А APTE LDTLEE 
ALT: Proressi0ns 
Anita Berper 


Pid 


B ie lh | 


HEGI 






with the grind that got 
them there.” 

Another musical cele- 
bration of human endeav- 
our in excelsis, The Race For 
Space tollowed. Its evocation of American and 
Soviet scientists locked in astronautical one- 
upmanship took PSB to new levels across the 
board, the album launching at Leicester’s 
National Space Centre in February 2015 and 
reprised during the BBC Proms at the Royal 
Albert Hall in July 2019, the 50th anniversary 
of the first moon landing. The band grew 
in number, but the long-running success of Race... undoubtedly 
overshadowed its successor, Every Valley, the story of the miners 
of south Wales, once feted as “the kings of the underworld” in 
Richard Burton’s words, then “the enemy within” in Margaret 
Thatcher’s. Yet, even before that album, Willgoose had set his eyes 
on another horizon. 

“When we signed with our managers, playing Berlin was one of 
my ambitions. The first gig we did there was a shocker. I muffed up 
[Inform-Educate-Entertain track] Roygbiv so badly, Wrigglesworth 
fell off his stool laughing. Yet it felt cool, and Berlin still has the 
air of a great place. With a city that rich in history, it's easy to find 
resonances that chime with you, but I think I, we, have an inbuilt 
desire to push back against the obvious — the Wall, the Stasi, JFK's 
speech — all the stuff Pm sure people are tired of hearing about. 
I went to see the expressionistic films of the Novembergruppe at 
the Berlinische Galerie and I remember getting back in the van and 
saying: ‘Yeah, I’ve got it, I know what I’m doing now.” 

Wait. Your were on tour, in Berlin, and you went to a gallery? 
That's not very rock'n'roll. 

“Well, my experience of Berlin may have been different to 
Bowie's. I was 38. I had a pregnant wife and a dog." 


OR A MOMENT, THERE IS A CRACK 


in the PSB facade, a glimpse into otherwise 





private lives. Willgoose wears a wedding 
ring, owns a dog, studied English, but their ludi- 
crous pseudonyms and aversion to inquisitiveness 
are sticks with which the band are often beaten. 
“It’s too easy to know everything about a band 
these days,” he says, “to put it out there so every- 
one knows what you had for breakfast. It doesn’t 
feel like something the people we write about on 
the album, like Marlene Dietrich and Anita Berber, 
would have done. They understood the impor- 
tance of the self-made image.” 

So, J. Willgoose, Esq, what is it that attracted 
you to self-mythologisers and a city that keeps 
reinventing itself? 

“Dietrich’s one of the people who give Berlin 
its air of cool, but I was fascinated by the ruthless 
way she built her own image. We're certainly not 
masters of that. She, and Bowie and Berber, un- 
derstood the power that comes from controlling 
your own myth. They created stories that don't 
have to be true, but they have control over them. 
With Berber, it is more difficult, she ended up 
being consumed by her persona." 

A dancer, actress and writer of the poem 
Kokain, which inspired the PSB track Gib Mir Das 
Licht, Berber is best summed up in the title of Mel 
Gordon's biography: The Seven Addictions And Five 
Professions Of Weimar Berlin's Priestess Of Depravity. 
What she had for breakfast is nobody's business. 

Willgoose brings Bowie up several times. He 
discovered Low at 23, and here he is in Berlin. Did 
he want to take a leaf out of Bowie's book? *In 
terms of being brave, yes. I wanted Bright Magic to 









HO! 


The frightfully 
enlightening 
world of 
Public Service 
Broadcasting, 
in albums, by 
David Hutcheon. 


(Test Card Recordings, 2013) 


Asthe sun set 
onthe Empire, 
enter PSB. 
Itlacksthe 

ч ambition of 

х later concepts, 

but you still get John Grierson 
reciting Auden, Leslie Howard 
dreaming up the Spitfire, 
Edmund Hillary conquering 
Everest, andatired and 
emotional Thomas Woodrooffe. 


(Test Card Recordings, 2015) 


. Audaciously 
focusing on 

the humanity 
behind Cold War 
technology, PSB 
MU) make you care 
whether or not Apollo 8 orbits 
the moon, marvel at the bravery 
of Yuri Gagarin and Valentina 
Tereshkova and choke over 
Apollo 1. Stay or go? Go! 


(Play It Again Sam, 2017) 
"=== —-- Using the 
decline of 
the Welsh 
coal mines to 
representthe 
abandonment 
and neglect of people who 
fail to pay their way under the 
relentless march of progress, 
Willgoose et al remind us 
that the world turns noton 
commodity but community. 


f | 


f [ 


Normal service will be resumed: 
(above, from left) JF Abraham, J. 
Willgoose, Esq, Wrigglesworth, 
Mr B; (below) Willgoose in his 
London studio, 2015; (left) on- 

| stage in Manchester, 2013. 





have two very distinct sides, like Low, where the 
B-side is much more abstract and conceptual, 
moving away from stuff we'd done before. But I 
was also obsessed with Kubrick's 2001: A Space 
Odyssey, the three-part structure of that film 
had wormed its way into my soul and built a 
framework for ‘my’ city and the record. The 
opening prehistoric section, I wanted to start 
with a track about the city emerging from the 
swamp, both literally and as an idea; then this 
explosion of sound and light, taking you to dif- 
ferent places; and finally an abstract expressionist 
closing third. Then I began thinking: Is this an 
enormous folly? We're a moderately successful 
band with a samples shtick and we've gone off to 
Germany, dropped 99 per cent of the samples and 
made it all in German. It's brave, but is it wise?" 

It's a sobering thought. The cry "self-indul- 
gent twaddle" looms like Dietrich's shadow over 
any band that spends three months researching 
their material rather than simply rehashing the 
subjects that have dominated popular song for 
the past 50-60 years. But before we go our sepa- 
rate ways, Willgoose to Superdrug, MOJO 
through Checkpoint Charlie to the other side of 
the Thames, there is one final, very PSB-like 
thought on the power of humanity. 

“The thing that comes with experience is 
learning to be confident enough to let your brain 
sort it all out while you feed it more informa- 
tion," says Willgoose. “Mine started to hone in 
on this element of the city and, before I knew it, 
it had done most of the work for me. You've just 
got to give it time to work itself out and not force 


it. And that will happen." M; 


MOJO 67 








Danger: Diabolik! Faust 

pose for a press shot at the 
schoolhouse in Wümme; 1971 
(from left) Arnulf Meifert, 
Gunther Wusthoff, Rudolf 
Sosna (front), Jean- Hervé 
Péron, Zappi Diermaier 

and Hans-Joachim Irmler. 





A pneumatic drill, a naked bassist, a debut gig 
' that was aiso “an execution”. The legend of Hamburg 
wr Krautrockers is extraordinary, but the 
truth beggars belief. “Faust was the best, ultimate 
| revolution in pop musio," discovers ^ 



























GIORGIO MORODER’S 
MUSICLAND STUDIOS, MUNICH. 


IT WASN’T MEANT TO END LIKE THIS. IN 1971 IN 
Hamburg, Faust had been lavished with riches by the German 
Polydor label. When that arrangement soured, they moved to 
Richard Branson’s Virgin Records for two cult LPs and fabled live 


performances in Britain. Now, rudderless without their mentor/ 





producer Uwe Nettelbeck, they were working nights in this swish 
underground studio recently used by the Rolling Stones. Music- 
land, like the posh Arabella Hotel upstairs where the group and 
their dogs were living like lords on room service, had been 
assured that Virgin would be paying the bills. 

Except Virgin was not going to be paying the bills. “They’d 
spent all this money on the studio and they hadn’t consulted 
us at all,” says Virgin co-founder and A&R Simon Draper. EE o 
“They said, ‘We’ve made the record, what are you gonna do?’ 
And we said, ‘Well done, you keep it.’ And we terminated the 
contract. We'd had enough.” 

As demands for monies owed became terser, Faust's 
famously charming roadie Rudy Bosma discreetly loaded the 
band's equipment and tapes into bassist Jean-Hervé Péron's 
BRS truck. “They had the barrier down in the car park,” recalls 
Péron, “and Rudy just drove, boom!, through the gate. It was 
like a movie. I remained in the studio with Rudolf [Sosna, guitar | 
and [Hans-Joachim] Irmler [organ] and waited for us to be 
arrested. I was stoned out of my mind when this happened, so 
joyful that he managed to escape." 

Faust would spend three days in the cells courtesy of Munich's 
finest. Who bailed them out and settled their accounts? The long- 


4e] suffering mothers of Irmler and Sosna. After three years of won- 
55 m & drous, schizoid creativity on the chaotic edge of Krautrock, Faust’s 
ы. > debt had been called in. 
0 5 Forty-seven years оп, the tracks they cut at Musicland will 
02 z finally be released as the group intended. The album is included on 
MA » Е Faust 1971-1974, a box set that covers their early zenith, later the 
7 УА | subject of myriad excited myths. “I can’t say anything about 
^v Ж) 5 myths,” says the jovial Irmler, modestly. “Just maybe this — Faust 
TY 3 was the best, ultimate revolution in pop music...” > 


MOJO 69 


(3), Kurt Graupner, Jürgen D. Ensthaler, Bureau B, Heinrich Klaffs 


Courtesy of Faust 


[ Г Р, ah Р 


"EE. 
= | 


473 
DI 


/ ы 
ғ Ж” 


22 Fy й Fy 
ий P. wy 


jn 





79", 


"nic 


24 Mir 
y iy 


“hee 


е P 

Val ا‎ ЕОР, 
22 Lr ғ 
2 уу X^. 


$e 
"м СИРУ, 





^Y ADFINGER. THE KNACK. 
Oasis. BTS, even. Lots of bands 
have been rashly declared heirs 
to the Fab Four. But spare a thought for 
the sales staff of Polydor, whose biggest 
homegrown moneyspinner in 1971 
was James Last, when presented 
with new signings Faust. Somehow, 
Uwe Nettelbeck — an influential 
film critic on Hamburg-based leftist 
magazine konkret (one of his col- 
leagues was Ulrike Meinhof, soon to 
find infamy as a member of the Red 
Army Faction terror group) — had 
convinced Polydor manager Horst 
Schmolzi that Faust were the Ger- 
man Beatles. “That is how we got so 
much support,” says Faust drum- 
mer Werner 'Zappi' Diermaier. 
“We could do our things without any pres- 
sure. But the fellow musicians in Germany 
were envious.” 

As has been observed, Faust were in- 
deed just like The Beatles, if The Beatles 
had carried on in the vein of Revolution 9. 
The German group’s self-titled three-track 


ee Ж 
Е — Б 


debut LB, pressed on clear vinyl with an 
X-ray of a clenched fist on its transparent plastic sleeve, was a 
wrenching, lysergic pile-up of fuzz guitars, electronics, marching 
bands, thunderstorms, the riff from Louie Louie, a snatch of 
Deutschland Uber Alles, tape abuse and the closing, cautionary 
observation, “nobody knows if it really happened.” Boldly, the 
album also featured snatches of All You Need Is Love and the 
Stones’ (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction in the distorted introductory 
frequencies of opening piece Why Don’t You Eat Carrots? 

Inspired by Fluxus, Dada, Dylan, Miles Davis, The Velvet 
Underground and Zappa, Faust’s origins were in two experimental 
Hamburg groups. From psychedelic rockers Nukleus came ex-navy 
radio operator/saxophonist Gunther Wiisthoff, intense part- 
Russian guitarist Sosna and the Casablanca-born Péron. The 
improvisational Campylognatus Citelli brought forth drummers 
Zappi and Arnulf Meifert, and the Swabian Irmler. 

Accounts differ as to the chronology, and Zappi insists the two 
groups knew each other before Nettelbeck made contact. They 


70 MOJO 


ШЕ ош. 


p 


y 


48р 
An album ee ee x 


Black box recorders: (clockwise from left) | 
in the Wumme studio control room (from 
left) Péron, Sosna, Irmler and engineer 
Kurt Graupner; Faust make their on-stage | 
debut, Hamburg Musikhalle, November 

23, 1971; Faust backing vocal session, 
incited by Zappi; at Virgin’s studio The 
Manor, June 1973; opening salvos. 







agree that the nascent Faust first played together in 





early 71 in the narrow, musty Sternschanzenbunker, 
an underground former air raid shelter in north- 
west Hamburg. Wiisthoff says, “It all happened in 
one week, hardly any time to think about it.” He lists 
the “first encounter” as Tuesday, February 23, 1971; 
on the Thursday, Nettelbeck brought 1,000 
Deutsche Marks from Polydor; on Friday the two 
groups met in the bunker for a first rehearsal: on 
Monday, March 1 they recorded a demo in Poly dor's 
Hamburg studio. Lieber Herr Deutschland was a sa- 
tiric collision of crowd noise, freakout, drift and the 
text of a washing machine manual. By Wednesday 
they had signed to the label for a reputed 300,000 
DM, a staggering near-£790,000 in today's money. 





The next move was to rural Wümme, an hour's 
drive outside Hamburg. There they rejected Nettelbeck's sugges- 
tion that they call themselves Gétterdammerung for the more 
ambivalent Faust — ‘fist’ in German, as well as referencing Goethe's 
tragic hero, who sells his soul to the devil in return for secret knowl- 
edge. In Wümme they'd live and work in a converted school with a 
studio and in-house engineer Kurt Graupner. Among his innova- 
tions were Faust's sound-manipulating Black Boxes. Each of the 
four units featured ring modulators and tone generators controlled 
by foot pedals. Members could plug in and distort and manipulate 
their own and bandmates’ instruments live: an unheard-of, revolu- 
tionary technique in 1971. 


IFE IN THE HERMETIC ECOSYSTEM THAT WAS 

, Wümme involved recreational drugs, a dog called Crapeau, 
Péron's habitual nudity, visits to the local discotheque and an 

armed raid when the polizei thought Baader-Meinhof Gang militant 
Gudrun Ensslin was hiding out there. Around the clock, there was 





music. Wüsthoff adds “meditating and everything that monks 


would do” to the domestic day-to-day of life in the studio-com- 
mune. With no record players, TVs or radios on site, the group 
could create without outside influence whenever they pleased. 
With Irmler on his *world organ" (home-built in 1967 and still in 
use), players traded instruments — Sosna playing piano and singing, 
Péron blowing his trumpet — in pursuit of moments of break- 
through. Sosna and Péron contributed most of the lyrics, while 
Wiisthoff, Irmler and Graupner searched out new sounds and 
recording techniques, as tapes were spliced and looped across mul- 
tiple rooms. “There was no leader,” insists Irmler. “We were ex- 
treme individuals and sparring partners, against each other and with 
each other at the same time. That was Faust’s unique energy field.” 

The objective, states Irmler, was a new German music free of the 
taints of both the Nazi period and the new American pop-cultural 
hegemony. In this, Faust were not alone. In Cologne, Can had formed, 
and in Diisseldorf, Kraftwerk (soon, so would Neu!). Yet Faust were 
more violent and uncompromising. “I was very impressed by Schón- 
berg and Mahler’s courage to actually destroy music,” says Irmler. 
“The break with common ‘beautiful’ sounds and against listening 
habits and against music education — that still fascinates me.” 

Yet the new studio-group’s debut live show, meant to show off 
Polydor’s hot new signings to company staff at the Hamburg 
Musikhalle on November 23, 1971, was nota success. Instead, bra- 
vura artistic intentions translated into frantic soldering, a last-min- 
ute search for cables and one long music-free technical glitch that 
four TVs, a pyramid of tin cans and impromptu a cappella improv 
by Zappi could not alleviate. 

“There was a plan to simulate that nothing is working techni- 
cally, and when the public starts protesting, to start with a big bang 
of aleatoric sounds,” recalls Meifert. “But people did not know if it 
was a happening, a performance, or kind of a hoax... For me per- 
sonally it was a catastrophe.” 





Irmier 


Engineer Graupner says requests for a postponement were 
rejected by the label. “It was a flop in my eyes,” he says. “Neverthe- 
less, like many others, Uwe was satisfied in the end. The group 
became better known and there was a happy party afterwards.” 

Faust’s no-compromise democracy was Capricious, however, as 
Meifert discovered when, he says, Nettelbeck arranged for his ejec- 
tion from Faust in the hours following the non-gig. As in a show 
trial, each member had to say aloud that they wanted him out. 

“Put six individuals in a locked room and tell them they have to 
produce something overnight, which expresses their group situa- 
tion as well as the Zeitgeist, otherwise they will be executed in the 
morning,” he reflects, 50 years later, “[it’s] an absurd existentialis- 
tic situation, a surreal nightmare. In fact, the concert was sort of an 
execution." 

Meifert later worked closely with Günter Brus, the Viennese 
Actionist artist sentenced to six months in jail for covering his body 
in his own ordure, masturbating and vomiting while singing the 
Austrian national anthem. 


EHE FALLOUT FROM THE MUSIKHALLE FIASCO 
could have been terminal, and Nettelbeck later admitted he 
á- had to call on Faust fanatic and NME journalist Ian MacDonald 
to help stop Polydor from pulling the plug. *I... told him that he 
had to write that Faust was the biggest thing ever," said Nettelbeck, 
quoted in 2000's Faust box The Wümme Years. “With those two 
pages in a major music paper... I was able to reopen negotiations." 

Even so, grimly aware that Faust had sold poorly (one estimate is 
less than 1,000 copies), Polydor made it clear that they wanted 
some radio songs on the next album. “We decided to make So Far a 
more trendy ‘Pop’ album,” says Irmler. 

With an edit of its title track released as a single in May 1972, the 
black-sleeved-and-labelled So Far duly showed a more melodic, 
structured aspect of the group. While it's debatable how, say, the 
metallic lava flows of Mamie Is Blue fit into trendy pop, elsewhere 
the approach paid glorious dividends: one of the defining Faust 
tracks was opener It's A Rainy Day, Sunshine Girl, a head-bursting 
riff/chant stretched to breaking point over Zappi's brontosaurian 
ur-rhythm. *Rudolf came into my room, very excited, as he had a 
great idea,” recalls the drummer. “I listened to his guitar and his 
singing and played a very simple groove to it. That was it. In 
Wümme we did not play the music, we lived the music." 

On Nettelbeck's invitation, outsiders came to sample the 
studio's special atmosphere. Guitarist Peter Blegvad worked on the 
first album by pop subversionists Slapp Happy there in mid-1972. 
“It was intimidating, also very exciting," he says. “Faust were very 
generous and welcoming. I think they were all omnivorous about 
any sounds, whether they were noise or music of any kind. It was all 
grist to the mill." 

Another visitor was New York minimalist Tony Conrad, who 
recorded his one-note classic Outside The Dream Syndicate with 
Faust amid clouds of marijuana smoke in October 1972. 
*[Wümme] was a microcosm, where everything seemed to have 
been evolving in some strange way over the course of months and 
months," Conrad told Faust biographer Andy Wilson. *[Later] they 
had no recollection at all of working with me." 

Yet in the familiar face of minimal sales, Polydor were no longer 
prepared to finance the free creative idyll. *They kicked us out," 
says Péron. “Dropped. Very loud and clear — “Хо more money." In 
a night-raid the group cleared out the studio equipment and > 


MOJO 71 





How Faust invaded Britain with 
road drills, pinbail and merciless 
volume. By lan Harrisons 

















Flipping heck! Faust 
| added pinball to 


<< looked across the channel for their next move: a new label called 


Virgin was about to launch in London. Their commercial hopes 
remained: “I want it to be popular music,” Nettelbeck told Karl Dal- 
las in March 1973. “I would rather like it to be considered as rock.” 
As buyer for the Virgin record shop chain, Simon Draper knew 
there was an appetite for experimental West German music in the 
UK, and that Faust had two influential supporters in John Peel and 
Ian MacDonald. He recalls a trip to Hamburg with Richard Bran- 
son, when they stayed with Nettelbeck and his beautiful wheel- 
chair-bound wife Petra and signed a deal after a meal and drinks. 
Part of Nettelbeck's offer was The Faust Tapes. Virgin could have the 
album for nothing, he stipulated, but they couldn't make any money 
on it, and the cover art should be by op artist Bridget Riley. After the 
three men visited the artist's west London home, she agreed to let 
Virgin use her 1964 painting Crest for the sleeve. 
; CORNERSTONE OF THE GROUP’S LEGEND, JHE 
| | Faust Tapes remains an enjoyably painful experience, jump- 
ihe collaging yapping avant-delirium and such beauteous рор 
lucidities as Flashback Caruso. Graupner calls the raw materials, 
“test recordings and experiments of mine... not intended for a 
release," and while the protagonists don't agree on who did the 
editing, Nettelbeck indicated it was him. Released in May 1973, it 
was sold for a mere 48p as part of Virgin's label-launching 
salvo that also included Mike Oldfield’s monster hit Tubular 
Bells. To maximise the profile-raising, admiring press notices 
bedecked the sleeve, with French magazine Best hailing Faust 
as, "the most avant-garde group in Germany, if not the world." 
Draper estimates it sold 100,000 copies, but, too cheap to 
quality for the album charts, it actually lost the label money. 
With the idea of Faust successfully planted in the UK 
music-mind, and a UK tour booked for June, plans were laid 
for a new album. Yet Faust's arrival in London was marred by 
truculence. “We found a flat for them in Earls Court and they 
thought it was a complete tip," says Draper. *They started com- 
plaining immediately, and it went on and on. I can remember them 
writing something in German on one of the mixing desks 
at [Virgin's Oxfordshire studio] the Manor as well, about 


their UK stage show. 





ourtesy of Faust (3), Topfoto, Getty, Russ Garrett, Andrew Phillips, Universal, Jürgen D. Ensthaler, Kurt Graupner 


(2 


Ceu 





соз RAINBOW TH 
FINSBURY PARK EATRE 


1 VIRGIN. "presens 


FAUST and HENRY COW 
EVENING 7-0 p.m. 
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2151, 1973 


STALLS 
8 


es 
[SS 





To the manner born: 
(clockwise from above 
left) Faust on tour in the 
UK with Peter Blegvad inel. WAT 
(second left) and Uli 
Trepte (right); at Virgin’s 
Manor Studio, June 1973 
for the Faust IV sessions; 
at the Amersham Arms, New Cross, London, 
June 18, 2008; Virgin co-founder Simon Draper; 
Irmler and circuit boards; Petra Krause and Uwe 
Nettelbeck’s wedding, Hamburg, June 5, 1964. 


TO BE RETAINED 


something which was shit, you know, 
whether it was the Manor or Virgin. They 
seemed to believe that the world owed 
them and that they were really important, 
because Nettelbeck and Ian MacDonald 
were telling them they were.” 

Significantly, during Faust’s few weeks recording at the Manor at 
the end of June, Péron remembers an uncharacteristically blunt 
intervention by Nettelbeck. “We were stoned out of our heads, just 
doodling some useless music,” the bassist recalls. “Uwe opened the 
door of the recording room and really burst in and said, ‘No, no! 
Stop doing this! This is miserable music!’ It was a shocking 
moment. And it was good, because that led to Jennifer, that led 
to Krautrock and other parts of Faust IV.” 

Embracing a genre heading that was coined as a put-down, 
Krautrock was nearly 12 grimy minutes of vorwärts glide, while 
Jennifer could hold its own in a starry-eyed staring contest with Syd 
Barrett’s Terrapin. On its release in September 1973, ads for Faust 
IV were only half joking when they promised ‘Very Commercial’. 
Still, it seemed Faust’s world was beginning to fall apart. Tired of 
their new situation with Virgin (and particularly, it seems, with 
Branson), Nettelbeck bowed out after mixing Faust IV and returned 
to Germany, as did Graupner. Irmler and Sosna also retreated, 
meaning Blegvad and “spacebox”-playing Uli Trepte of Heidelberg 
freaks Guru Guru were recruited for an autumn UK tour with 
Henry Cow, which endeared Faust further to the volume-tolerant 
greatcoat wearers of pre-punk Britain (see sidebar). Still, a break- 
through was denied them. 

“Whenever things appear to be very good for us, then we turn 








Peron 


around and destroy it," says Péron. “We did this with 
Polydor, same with Virgin. Richard was very ready to 
invest to make us famous and create money, like with Mike 


Oldfield... 


in us. I do have regrets. After many decades, I realise how 


. We seem to have a self-destroying mechanism 


essential Uwe Nettelbeck was for us. Because he gave us 
direction, he never imposed anything on us, he was a fan- 
tastic producer, he was a friend... I visited him many years 
after he was done with Faust and I told him, ‘Uwe, we 
were such stupid assholes to treat you like an enemy, on 
the side of the industry.’ He fought so hard for our music. 
Shit... why didn’t we see this?” 


ТИН VIRGIN’S INTEREST WANING, ONLY 


one last wheeze remained, when the returned Irm- 





ler persuaded Faust and Graupner to regroup and 
brazen it out in Munich. A return to experimental roots 
after a tilt at success, the wired, sometimes 
beatific recordings from Musicland are now 
fixed as the Faust album entitled Punkt (in 
English: ‘point’, or ‘full stop’). Back in 1974, 
chastened by their last door closing, Faust 
fell dormant. In the years that followed, 
former tourmate Chris Cutler of Henry 
Cow kept the records in print and the flame 

burning via his Recommended Records. 
Revivals of the group began in the early 
'80s, when Irmler, Péron and Zappi played 
shows together in Germany, though an at- 
tempted return of a by-now heavy drinking 
Sosna was not to be. In the 905, a more concerted effort saw 
all three playing on 1996's You Know FaUSt and scandalous 
international gigs involving leaf blowers, cement mixers and 
action-painting. Péron would later leave the group, but 
would form a new version of Faust with Zappi in 2004. Two 
entites would co-exist until Irmler's industrial-kosmische 
Faust Is Last said goodbye to the concept in 2010. It seems 
that the Péron and Diermaier faction has also run its course. 
Zappi says the group will not play together again (“because 
Jean-Hervé Péron and Joachim Irmler adopt each of them a 
7) though in July 2021 he appeared to launch a 


new version of Faust with the involvement of Gunther Wüsthoff. 


leadershi p attitude 


“We still respect each other [but] we splendidly ignore one 
another," says Péron, who will play Faust IV live across Europe in 
November 2021. *It bubbled up at some points afterwards, but the 
real, real Faust was 1971 to 1974. So for me, Punkt is the end of the 
real Faust, of what Faust has to say. That’s it. Over. Full stop. But this 
Faust thing, it was something magic that happened, and you can still 
hear that.” 

The commune at Wümme, the Manor and Musicland have all 
gone, as have Sosna and Nettelbeck, who died in 1996 and 2007 
respectively. The international music business is also changed 
beyond recognition. Yet the powerful vibrations created by the 
would-be Deutsche Beatles continue to resonate, punching holes in 
time with their visionary, exacting and ultimately life-affirming 
sounds, which Nettelbeck would have rather liked to be considered 
as rock. ^We wanted to create something completely independent," 
says the ever-twinkling Irmler, *and everyone was free." Nobody 


knows if it really happened? It really happened. М, 


Faust 1971-1974 is released оп vinyl and CD on Bureau B on October 8. Peter 
Blegvad 5 Go Figure and Тһе Peter Blegvad Bandbox are available on the ReR 
MegaCorp label. 


MOJO 73 








полат, Áq 31e3110q.."poo3 os ysn{sem йору ureyunoyy GSIN, :poarstraow 4 7 0272445 sy Td 
балд]. аъәэлри /2Түәз Аәці,95Ұ|4 L ITE вәэпәләртр ЭЧТ *2uÁs Jo JNO АрәәјләӢ urew oym s12Surs 
om} Aq po[reu ‘лош pu? OIX L *Spej[eq 1opanuu *sonjq u3eop :әпо) *posuidoz uooq seu 632ә/іола 
SEI ERI “повтеә& пәәзтпоу] °рир(?ди1зтйуу, дитдчов-Ашшелсу IY} IJE оў SSNV ио] /2 UM 
рәшеәҙ oy puy -Apreqnoe32ods “рәзтипәл иу2442У pay тиру, JAIGOY, хоў AVIA 1v|[o3s е SEM / 00C. 











= 
*ulebe asii au} UC 
— “ssneiy UOSIIY pug 
A - ТІЗБЕСІ Or EPEL] Ket 
wel - " Р 
25 >: _—.. E Buiujou 306 3۸ 3N 








76 MOJO 








ITH A POT OF BUILDER’S TEA ON THE GO AND SOME 
north African crypto-junglist beats clattering out of his 
iPhone, Robert Plant is ensconced upstairs at a 15th century 
inn on the banks of the River Severn. With a characteristic 
flourish, he has christened our meeting place — a first-floor 
lounge which also serves as a busy corridor to the pub’s overnight 
accommodation — the ‘Harlequin Room’, thanks to its garishly 
patchworked armchair coverings. 


It's a very ‘Percy’ scene: Led Zeppelin’s Golden God — wet-look curls unfussily tied back; eyes 
searching over rectangular reading glasses — hiding in plain sight; alone, with everybody. “I feel like 
Patrick McGoohan’s gonna come through the door any minute,” he merrily observes, equating our 
surrounds with the rococo world of McGoohan’s surreal 1960s TV series, The Prisoner. 


MOJO has been summoned for a differently surreal escapade: a 
three-way Zoom conversation with Alison Krauss, post-millennial 
sweetheart of old-time country music, and duettist on Plant’s most 
beloved post-Zeppelin album. 2007’s Raising Sand saw the seem- 
ingly mismatched couple’s mix of country, folk, blues and early 
rock’n’roll shift north of 2 million units. The pair toured arenas 
together and bagged five Grammys (including Album Of The Year), 
but amid clamour for a follow-up the trail went cold — until now. 

Recorded in Nashville, as before, with American roots guru 
T Bone Burnett presiding over a stellar cast of sessioneers, Raise The 
Roof stirs the same gumbo of styles on songs whose dates of prove- 
nance range from 2011 (smouldering curtain-raiser Quattro, 
penned by Tucson, Arizona alt-Americana outfit, Calexico) right 
back to 1930 and Geeshie Wiley’s Last Kind Words, an extraordi- 
nary female-voiced blues lament which was only ‘discovered’ by 
post-war enthusiasts in the mid '90s. The choices sit well with a 
singer who loves to dig deep for obscure repertoire. “When I kick 
the bucket, songs will probably exude from all of my orifices,” says 
Plant. “There’ll be zillions of bits and pieces, from Umm Kulthum’s 
Orchestra In Cairo right through to Lonnie Donegan. Fuckin’ hell, 
the lot of it — take that!” 

Raise The Roof also upholds the spirit of Led Zeppelin’s remodel- 
ling of arcane blues — think their monumental over-amping of 
Memphis Minnie’s When The Levee Breaks on Led Zeppelin IV. As 
ever, Plant is quick to sever connections with his glorious past. 

“The good thing with Alison and I is that we’re a couple of kin- 
dred spirits,” he says, before launching into the first of many broad- 
sides against heritage rock. “Most musicians form a band, then they 
stay in the band until it’s over — 20 years, 30 years, 50 years, what- 
ever it is, and it starts to look sadly decrepit. It’s like people hanging 
onto alife raft, or (with a frown) staying in a comfortable place. With 
us two, there’s nothing written in blood. We were ready to do 
something new, and we knew how good it was before, so we can just 
join up again and see where we go. We’ve got nothing to lose.” 

The packaging for Raising Sand was de- 
signed to imply a closeness between the pair, 
perhaps even to imply a certain romantic 
frisson. A sticker on the British CD quoted 
Sylvie Simmons’ five-star review in MOJO, 
which described the musical relationship as 
“so gentle, attentive and respectfully inti- 
mate, it feels like a courtship dance”. 

But Covid has disrupted plans for the 
dance to renew on the physical plane. ‘Today 
the pair are on different continents and 
Krauss has chosen to attend our Zoom 


Stick with me baby: (opposite, clockwise from main) Plant and Krauss 
in 2007; with Raising Sand and Raise The Roof producer T Bone Burnett 
enjoying a release party for the former LP at The Campbell Apartment, 
New York Grand Central Terminal, October 22, 2007; Krauss and Plant 
performing at the 51st Grammy Awards, Los Angeles Staples Center, 
February 8, 2009; (this page) Raising Sand and Raise The Roof. 








a A ты 
' М 4 
| 
À 
! 
Д 


ROBERT PLAST | 


meeting with the video function switched off (“It would scare eve- 
ryone,” she explains). 
^I'm finding this weird,” she soon admits, meaning Covid. “For 
so many months now, I’ve not been out of my own thoughts, just 
making stew and wiping the counter off. Am I making any sense?” 
“Honey,” Plant gallantly replies, “you’re there with your vegeta- 
bles bubbling away, making your meat and three — you’re doing fine!” 


Г T THE VERY OUTSET, THERE WAS A MATCH- 
cA maker who put Krauss and Plant together: Bill Flana- 
| gan, the American journalist best known for his 
‘official’ conversations with Bob Dylan, approached both parties 
circa 2000, to appear on CMT Crossroads, a ҮНІ series specialising 
in unlikely artist team-ups. “Bill called me up and asked, ‘Have you 
ever thought about singing with a woman?"" Plant remembers, *and 
I said, *Well, I did in 1971, with Sandy Denny' — but that took about 
10 minutes! Like, *Here's the lyrics — let's just do it!” 

One could argue that Led Zeppelin's oeuvre, with its pumped-up 
masculine sexuality, was rarely a place for the feminine. It takes 
Plant a head-scratching minute or two to remember any women 
who'd sung with him in his solo career before 2007 (Toni Halliday, 
later of Curve, guested on two late '80s records, while Clannad's 
Moya Brennan coo'd ethereal back-up on 1993's Come Into My 
Life), but Flanagan's call also set him on a path towards a hitherto 
unexplored genre for him — country music. 

Initially, he phoned while Krauss was getting her one-year-old 
off to sleep. “I had to keep my voice low and monotone,” she 
recalls, “апа I'm sure Robert thought I was a weirdo,” but he fi- 
nally engineered a meeting in November 2004 in Cleveland, Ohio, 
during rehearsals for his headlining appearance at a tribute to Lead- 
belly at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 

“We were in an Armenian community centre and I was petrified,” 
he says, laughing at the unglamorousness of his invitation. “It was the 
funniest night, wasn’t it, Alison, because you kept looking at me like 
something really strange had happened?” 

“That’s just my face,” she deadpans. 

“You said to me, ‘Why don’t you just sing the same 
part twice so that I can actually harmonise?’ I thought, 
‘Oh, I see, that’s why Porter Wagoner sounded so good 
with Dolly Parton.’ That was the beginning of us, really 
— just, shit or bust.” 

From there, it took another three years for Plant to 





finish a campaign with his burgeoning 
ALISON KRALSS Strange Sensation band, and cajole 
Krauss into making Raising Sand. 
From the UK's perspective, where 
country's popularity is less conspicu- 
ous, it's hard to imagine how Krauss 
didn't just drop everything to run off 
with our homegrown rock god. State- 
side, by contrast, he might almost be 
regarded as the junior partner, an > 


an Evans/Eyevine, Getty (2) 


ne 
+ 
© 


C 
О 
= 














“ROBERT'S 
SINGING IS THE 
EPITOME OF 
FREEDOM AND 
SPONTANEITY, 
AND M PRETTY 
REGIMENTED, 
BUT THERE’SA 
ROMANCE IN 
CONTRAST.” Krauss 


Hair apparent: 
Plant on-stage 
with Led 
Zeppelin, 
1971. 


. "PLANT DONS A PILLAGING 
> NORSEMAN’S HELMET 
BEFORE LETTING 


RIP WITH HIS 
BATTLE CRY.” 


Ten of the best of Robert Plant, 1969-2021, by Mark Blake. 


Ce Zeppelin, Atlantic 1969) 


“he . Plant first heard Joan Baez's 

1 version of folkie Anne Bredon's 
V] Babe I’m Gonna Leave You 

& Е. during a musical bonding 

| session with Jimmy Page in 

“I summer 1968. Here, the 

21-year-old novice stamps his authority on 

the song, matching the band’s dynamics and 

exploring his ability to switch effortlessly 

from a whisper to a scream. 






іл 


(Геа _ ІІ, Atlantic 1969) 


Whole Lotta Love is much 
imitated (never bettered) but 
over-familiarity hasn't taken 
the shine off Plant'slead vocal. 
His voice becomesan instru- 
ment of battle alongside 
Page's Theremin during the abstract mid-song 
breakdown. While his returning vocal - 

"Way down inside!" - swings harder than 

the hammer ofthe gods. 





"en E ІІ, Atlantic 1970) 


RE: э. ~ у Plant dons a pillaging Norse- 
ig н Аи man’s helmet and animal 
| -56 25 Skins before letting rip with 


ee ® his battle cry. He then drags 

* the listener with him through 

17 Саі “Ns "the ice and snow" as һе seesaws 
between vocal registers to “drive our ships to 
new lands”. It’s over and done in 2:26 minutes 

- with nota second wasted - but leaves you 
wanting more. 


78 MOJO 


Ed Zeppelin IV, Atlantic 1971) 


Plant made his first trip to the 
States in Christmas 1968, and 
plays the wide-eyed Black 
Country boy abroad on this 
gentle travelogue. But there’s 
also regret about the bad 
druggy vibes evident on later American tours. 
“Seems that the wrath of the gods got a punch 
onthe nose,” Plant cries, upending the song's 
otherwise idyllic charm. 





iiid Са, Swan Song 1975) 


Du PRA. Plant had proved 
t himself on many a ballad (see 
r 54 | The Rain Song from Houses Of 
mı Тһе Holy, for one). But there’s 
T- " a charming husk and a tinge 
ын of nostalgia in his voice on 
this bruised- -sounding love song; all about a 
girlfriend (see The Secret Life Of Plant panel, 
p83) who asked him to choose between her 
and a life in rock'n'roll. 





(No Quarter: Jimmy Page & Robert Plant Unledded, 


Fontana, 1994) 
нег page "Г Plant’s voice dominates on 

no FR Page &Plant’s reboot of this 
trad. arr folk song from Led 

| Zeppelin Ill. He builds the 
tension, singing like a man on 
a | tip toes with anoose round 
his neck ("Hangman, hangman... hold ita 
little while"), watching the rescue party 
racing towards him, but not fast enough. 









(Raising Sand, Rounder 2007) 


Taken from his first pas de deux with Krauss, Gone, 
Gone, Gone joins the dots between Plant's love 
of obscure '50s rock'n'roll and Krauss's deep roots 
in Americana. The melding of voices over aloose 
rockabilly swing showcases his previously 
under-explored gift as a duet partner. 


US Of Joy, Decca 2010) 


zn | Solo Plant has explored 
-»  electropop, trip-hop and 1 

1 ds 940s proto-rock’n’roll, but this 
"ыз ET, < century'sforays into arcane roots 
717725: musicsuithis voice best. Taken 

"E fromanalbum named after 
his pre-Zeppelin group, Plant negotiates this 
traditional gospel song's deep twists and turns, 
sounding like both an Old Testament prophet 
anda sonorous bluesman. 


айты 


(Celebration Day, Atlantic, 2012) 


There was an unpredictable, 
ыў anything-can-happen quality 
Pd © toLed Zeppelin's one-off 
LL livereunion in 2007. Plant 
T approached his performance 
v. as a 59-year-old gentleman, 
but EUNT Physical Graffiti's epic blockbuster 
with the gravitas it deserved, even receiving a 


spontaneous round of applausefor his 
trademark Percy shriek at 2:25 minutes. 





(Raise The Roof, Rounder, 2021) 


Thegrowth of Plant'sfeelfor Americana's themes 
and stories could not be better exemplified than 
by Ola Belle Reed's Appalachian lament from 
Plant & Krauss's upcoming reunion album, 
stoked by Krauss's glowering fiddle. Listen to the 
grain and ache of Plant's soon-to-be-executed 
narrator and the theatrical death throes of, say, 

In My Time Of Dying. There's no comparison. 


Getty (3) 


<< interloper wooing one of American music's biggest hitters. And 
indeed to a degree, Krauss called the shots, calling in T Bone Bur- 
nett, who had produced her contributions to successful soundtracks 
for the Coen Brothers’ O Brother, Where Art Thou? (alongside 
Ralph Stanley and Gillian Welch), and Cold Mountain. 

“Alison is the Aretha Franklin of bluegrass music,” says Burnett, 
“the person who redefined it for future generations. I’ve known her 
for 30 years. She started out as a little girl playing country fiddle. In 
her teens, she played with Tony Rice, the patron saint of bluegrass 
guitarists, and got tutored extremely well.” 

Krauss crashed into the pop-country mainstream with 1995's 
When You Say Nothing At All, and never looked back. Now 50, she 
has amassed 27 Grammys, the fourth highest tally after Beyoncé, 
Quincy Jones and conductor Georg Solti. 

“When Alison sings," Burnett continues, “it’s like she has a 
beautiful bell in her voice, and she has a particular genius for writing 
harmonies, very disciplined, whereas with Robert" — he 
chuckles — "there's something deeply primal and atavis- 
tic about his singing, and his being.” 

Burnett brokered their first try-out, at Krauss’s 
house in Nashville. “We sat down in your parlour, picked 
up a guitar, and started singing,” remembers Plant, “and 
I felt really naked. I’m so used to being behind an SM58 
mike with fairy dust on it, so as I can go into character. 
I'm just a bluffer, really. In your world, there's a naked- 
ness of preparation: you have to be far more on it, 
and honest, and have a really good voice at the be- 
ginning of it all." 

Plant casts himself as a risk-taker, but this was 
a challenge for both, a collision of music-making 


Eg: 


values, where each abandoned their comfort zone. 

“Growing up in bluegrass,” says Krauss, “you 
didn’t go to high school games, or prom — you 
spent all of your time practising harmonies to make 
them exact. The idea was to blend as closely as 
possible, to sound like one voice. That exactness 
and stoicism is part of what mountain music is 
about, but it was immediately obvious that this 
collaboration was really not going to be exact. Robert’s 
singing is the epitome of freedom and spontaneity, and 
I’m pretty regimented, but there’s a lot of romance in 
contrast, and I think that's why it worked so well with 
us. It was more about the differences in our voices, and 
the differences are a blast." 


| 
1 


Е OLD MOUNTAIN | 
In SHET сез 


Sister, where art thou?: 
Union Station (from left) 
Adam Steffey, Barry Bales, 
Alison Krauss, Tim Stafford, 
Ron Block; (right) Krauss 

in concert, 1990. 








O BROTHER, 















HERE WAS A PLEASING FRICTION, TOO, BETWEEN 
the country and folk material Burnett brought to the table 
i (including Killing The Blues by Chris Isaak sideman Row- 
bud Salley, and two from doomed ex-Byrd Gene Clark), and the 
rockers and R&B jewels sourced from Plant's 
home jukebox, such as Li’! Millet And His 
Creoles' sultry Rich Woman, and Fortune 
Teller — by Benny Spellman, but also, notes 
Plant, *by The Merseybeats, The Hollies and 
the Stones, because it was the go-to song for 

all the British groups in 1963." 

Instead of pre-arranging tracks in ad- 
vance, Burnett had them hash out arrange- 
ments on the spot at Nashville's Sound Em- 
porium studio, with an extraordinary band 
hand-picked by Burnett, including on elec- 
tric guitar latter-day Tom Waits sideman 

Marc Ribot, whose eccentric style Waits himself 
dubbed “Cubist funk". On some tracks they were 
joined by Norman Blake, an ever-present guitar- 
ist and mandolinist for Johnny Cash in the '60s, 
and later for Krauss's teacher, Tony Rice. In such 
rarefied company, Burnett fostered spontaneity. 
"We'd cross parts a lot, like the original Louvin 
Brothers," explains Krauss, “where there'd 
be no fixed tenor or baritone singer, and both 
parts are in the melody." 
^I knew nothing about the Louvin Broth- 
rs," admits Plant, *any more than Alison 
probably knew Blind Lemon Jefferson, and 
that was the joy of it all. We ended up with an 
elegance and a slink — something to do > 


MOJO 79 


Been a long time: 
(from left) Robert 
Plant, Jimmy Page 
and John Bonham, 
on-stage with Led 
Zeppelin, Wembley 


Empire Pool, 
November 23, 197 É 


71 


^e". 


Rian ALLY, 
ITRIED TO 
SING BOTH 

PARTS OF BATTLE 
I SOUNDED 
LIKE MORK AND 
MINDY. Plant 


On the 50th Anniversary of Led Zeppelin IV Plant talks 
cAndrew ‘Perry through his old band's 37-million-seller: 
“We were ina really fluid creative place.” 


® TILL A SHOO-IN for any sensible Top 5 
of the all-time greatest rock albums, 
Led Zeppelin IV endures for its all-killer- 
no-filler songwriting and the breadth 
а of its ambitions. Even more diverse 
than its predecessor, the folk and pop-curious 
Led Zeppelin Ill, here the band's exploration of 
multiple genres - country blues from 1929, 
turn-of-the-’70s West Coast psych, piledriving 
rock'n'roll -coalesced into a sublime balance of 
acoustic and electric, serenity and energy. 

At Headley Grange, the gone-to-seed 
Hampshire mansion where they'd cut much of 
IIl, the quartet had The Rolling Stones’ mobile 
recording studio parked outside, with cables 
fedin through the drawing-room window, and 
Stones pianist, lan Stewart, helping to operate it 
(‘Stu’ also played piano on Rock And Roll). Plant, 
in a grump, trotted out Stairway To Heaven's 
opening “all that glitters is not gold" coupletina 
few seconds of inspiration by the fireside, while 
When The Levee Breaks’ monolithic wallop was 
captured with John Bonham’s kit in Headley’s 
once-grand stairwell. An abundance of magic 
moments add up to a still majestic whole. 


MOJO: Isn't Led Zep /V a bit like Raise The 
Roof: a sample of all the different styles of 
music you embraced at that point? 


RP: Yeah, strange isn’t it? | think that was the beauty 
of the players, of all of us, that maybe the style went 
over here, and then over there, and we could cut it 





wherever. But we were in a really fluid creative place. 


80 MOJO 


Do youremember the writing? You had a brief 
stay with Jimmy Раде in rural Powys. 


It was the days of the first cassette recorders, 
and when Jimmy апа | went to Bron-Yr-Aur, 

we broughtthese very fancy Sony fold-away, 
imitation-leather briefcase recorders, with two 
speakers and a recorder and a good mike. Some 
ofthe recordings on those still sound great, 
with a big old grandfather clock ticking in the 
background. Around that time, it was just falling 
out of us. 


The sessions started at Island’s London 
studios in December ‘69, but the following 
month you returned to Headley Grange... 


We were in a really fluid creative physical place 
there. Headley Grange was very good. It’s shit or 
bust, if you decide to spend your entire life fora 
period of days with the same people, in the same 
building. It can geta little sticky, and that [era] 
was the first time we had done it that way. 


Once in situ, was it easy to spirit up these 
diverse musics? 


Most of the time it really did work with us going 
from thatidea, then bang into thatidea - we 
could just put on another cloak, or personality. 
Misty Mountain Hop was justso good. We had 
spent so much time on the West Coast, at those 
Seattle festivals - not just the rock festivals, the 
whole town of Seattle was such an expressive 
place to be. Dan Hicks And His Hot Licks, Danny 
O'Keeffe and all those people were playing 


around there. The Sonics, too, but maybe 
they had just given up - before they came 
back40 years later! And that song wasan 
appropriate lyric against an amazing riff and 
an incredible sound. 

So yeah, a lot of it was outward-looking, 
shoulders back, arms outstretched, and saying, 
‘Here we all are!’ Laughable, | suppose, by the 
time the punks came along. 


Nowadays, California is so reachable, but 
back then it must’ve seemed like a paradise, 
where ‘60s ideals were coming to fruition. Go- 
ing To California is so beautifully in thrall to 
the place... 


The West Coast was so far away, and then you get 
there, and yourealise that everybody is marching 
toatunethat we had been crying outfor back 
home - we were all part ofthe same throng. 
There was areal movement of spirit and 
intention. | mean, if you were going to do a study 
of that period from '66to [71], perhaps the 
golden optimism had been marred by - strangely 
enough! - excess, and the forces-that-be didn't 
mind that happening atall. There was not gonna 
be anybody in Congress joining the throng, 
although Jimmy Carter later on really was a 

good guy and brought good things through. 


Atanother extreme, there's a wonderful and 
unique strain of Brit-folk medievalism on IV, 
inthe acoustic passages of Stairway To 
Heaven, and The Battle Of Evermore, which is 
kind of J.R.R. Tolkien meets the Celtic 
mythology of the English-Welsh border wars. 


That folk-tale stuff is all about here - just 30 miles 
from here, you'rein it, in mid-Wales, Montgomery 
and beyond, butthe circumstance is every day. 


Had you ever duetted before Battle Of 
Evermore, when you called in Sandy Denny? 


No, never. And it’s not really a duet: if you think 
about it, it’s just two people singing the same 
song, because there’s no harmonic. The only 
thing there is, is a cascade of descending notes, 
where we quite often end up ina plausible 
harmony at the end. But! wrote so many lyrics 





Getty (4) 


<< with New Orleans, and something to do with the Grand Ole 
Opry, just melded together.” 

Such was the alchemy of Raising Sand: a live-in-the-room en- 
semble piece as much as a duets record, radiating warmth and con- 
nectivity in the ProTools age. In America post-9/11, a seasoned 
demographic had been flocking back to reassuring roots music, 
with Burnett’s O Brother... soundtrack as a key starting point. In 
that context, Raising Sand landed in the right place at the right time. 

It also arrived at a moment of unforeseen visibility for its male 


Bou protagonist. On September 12, 2007, a month before release, Led 
Heaven’s gate: WERT fron EM 
Bonham and Plant, Hiroshima, Japan, Atlantic Records, Ahmet Ertegun, by announcing their reunion for 
1971; Plant in Tokyo, 1971; Plant and Sandy 
Denny, Best Male and Best Female Singer 
at the 1970 Melody Maker Pop Poll Awards. December 10. Consequently, Plant spent much of the Raising Sand 


Zeppelin responded to the passing on July 31 of their mentor at 
a tribute concert at London’s O2 Arena which would take place on 


campaign fielding enquiries about Zeppelin’s longer-term 
prospects. His increasingly frustrated reply was that the show, how- 
ever magnificently it had unfolded, was a one-off. 

“I just was longing to sing those harmonies, which Га had drilled 
into my head by Miss Krauss,” he says today, “then the next thing I 
know Im singing in the style that I hadn't actually envisaged going 


kd. 


TEA. 
А a 
: h 
M. 


E 
Ta =, 
Es 


UTI ғ 


anywhere near again.” 


ғы. 
ats 


я j 
ни 
в 
а Е. 1 


So, technically singing on a full Zeppelin tour felt unfeasible? 


41 


am 


“You know, Alison?" he explains to Krauss via his laptop screen. 
“In England, when you know you're going off and not coming 
home, you say, ‘Don’t wait up!’ It's like you're not going back, 
you're on a new path. That's really what us two did, with a great deal 
of zigzags and fun." 

As they sang on Killing The Blues, sales of Raising Sand made 
Krauss and Plant look like they were *swinging the world by the 
tail", but touring Raising Sand wasn't without its teething troubles. 
On their opening night in Louisville, Kentucky, in April '08, Krauss 


e TIT (6. "| says she “left the stage іп a huff”, because she wasn't used to the 
C اا‎ 





that at one point | was gonna chuck 

























out all the responses that Sandy : ATLANTI unt amplification their music required. They quickly found their feet, 
eventually sang becausetherewas ` ros SR естен and, buoyed by arena bookings (including Wembley), and their 
too much clutter. Originally, | was N T [E a — d Grammys triumph i in February 2009, exploratory ses- 
trying to sing both lots, and it N [a sions duly commenced for a follow-up record. 


sounded like Mork & Mindy. Then | 

went, "Wait a minute!" We knew Fairport 
really well, and Sandy was a good friend, so 
she just came in and killed it. It wasn't even 
a one-day thing -it was a one-hour thing. It’ 
a great track, and Jimmy's mandolin and the 
studio effects on itare really, really good. 


“It was like we were suddenly in a band for ever,’ 
says Plant, “but evidently it wasn’t going to work like 
that. We probably dived in too soon, and needed to take 
a break. So, Alison went back her way, and I went mine.” 


LA 


ROM THAT APPARENT IMPASSE, 
OMIE RRNA monema progress towards a Raising Sand sequel was 
committed to vinyl. Your friend John 
Bonham was on fire on Black Dog, Rock 
And Roll and When The Levee Breaks. 
Bonzo and lused to drive down 
together to Headley Grange - just 
enthusiastic about getting there 
and not knowing what was going to 
happen, writing-wise. Jimmy always 
had ideas, some of them were born 
and raised on the spot. Everybody 
had something they were bringing 
to the party, and we just listened 
and played. 

Bonzo relished it. He had 
all this sound in his cans, from 
Jimmy's bank of pedals, maybe a baritone 
guitar with reverb - something deep and 
melodramaticthat would make people 
go, "Wow!" So he could hear all that, and 
sometimes he would just laugh in the 





incremental. 
*We'd hook up when Robert came through 
Nashville," says Krauss, *and when he was living in 
Texas, he came out to see my band, Union Station, at 
Austin City Limits festival. We'd constantly send songs 
back and forth, and talk about songs we should do." 
“For me, it came to a head when we were both on 
the same dics with Willie Nelson," says Plant, refer- 
ring to a stop on Nelson's Outlaw Festival in Nobles- 
ville, Indiana, in September '19, where Union Station 
and his Space Shifters shared billing. *I was more or 
less convinced that night, that we had to make space 
for another go — that it would definitely be a terrible 
waste if we didn't carouse again." 
During the second session in early '20, Plant was 
hampered by a chest infection, which may not have been 
helped by an old friend, Louisiana country-rocker Lucinda 


middle ofa take, like, “Grrrraaah-hahaha!” VER 0 Williams, and her band, staying in the same hotel and luring 
It was just incredible. д в, М f him to the bar every night. Can't Let Go, a Randy Weeks song 
How was his style evolving? % CES % К 00, A. ү from Williams’ breakthrough 1998 album, Car Wheels On A 
He played less around that time. We know all * $ РЕ, : | Pp Gravel Road, was apparently one of the n tunes that Plant 
the clichés, that it’s what you don't play that MEN aa shared with Krauss, maybe a decade ago. 

makes it work. It was definitely, (clenches fist) Listening to Raise The Roof, it’s easy to infer which songs 


"Take that!’ But it might also be alittle bit of 
Alphonse Mouzon, it might be a touch of 
Bernard Purdie. He was listening to all kinds of 
stuff, watching Buddy Rich shit, and thinking, | 
"Hmm, that might be a bit busy!" 


LE D originated from him, such as New Orleans soul belter Betty 


Harris's Irouble With My Lover, and an- 

ZEPPELIN other mid-'60s R&B nugget, Searching 
“STAIRWAY TO К 

HEAVEN” 





Lamp of truth: (from 
top) Led 2ерреііп ІМ 


label; ‘The Hermit’ For My Baby by Bobby Moore & The > 





MOJO 81 





Excess baggage: Plant 
enjoys a close encounter 
at the Continental Hyatt 
House, Los Angeles, July 
1973 with (from left) the 
‘snake man’, Led Zep 
publicist BP Fallon and 
friend Vanessa Gilbert. 


<< Rhythm Aces, which, says Plant, “I must’ve sung a million times 
at school — I’m at home there.” 

As well as recherché R&B, Plant also brought two choice Brit- 
folk selections. A fleshed-out reading of Bert Jansch’s It Don’t 
Bother Me offers an explicit nod to the inspirational Glaswegian 
folk guitarist. Famously, the instrumental Black Mountain Side off 
Led Zeppelin’s debut LP left its debt to Jansch’s reading of the Irish 
traditional Down By Blackwaterside uncredited, prompting a frosty 
war of words at that time. 

It turned out Jansch was “a really nice guy, definitely 
knowable,” says Plant today, who made good оп жо 
the slight in later life, and per formed at a posthumous | 
tribute to Jansch at the Royal Festival Hall іп „ 
December 2013. That night, he actually played Go 
Your Way, My Love, by Jansch associate Anne EL 
Briggs, which is also rousingly rocked up on 
Raise The Roof. 

Maybe Plant is one of life's bridge-builders. 
With Raising Sand and Raise The Roof, he's do- 
ing it with songs. 

"When I spent that first year or so with 
Alison,” he muses, “I was so amazed by America. 
[ thought I'd got America down, but here was 
this whole world of country music Га not 
encountered. That's the great thing about me and 
Alison — we're ably supported by a world of beau- 
tiful music that one or other of us doesn't know too 
much about." 
















^I grew up with the songs of rural America," says 
= © Krauss, for her part, “but it’s been amazing to bear 


D 


3 the stuff Robert's introduced me to, which are often 


82 MOJO 





the blues versions of things that I knew from growing up on the 
bluegrass side — the same stories of the droughts and the natural 
disasters of the dustbowl, the sharecroppers’ connection to the 
land, and love, loss and death. It's very raw in both styles of music. 
Mine came from Jimmy Rogers, his came from Robert Johnson." 


UTSIDE THE PUB FOR A BREATHER, PLANT 
gestures along the riverbank and reveals that earlier in the 
day he was out tending to the slice of it adjoining his 
property. “That bindweed is a hell of a thing," he says, before 
» pointing towards his school in Stourbridge, a mere 30 
` miles away. Between professional manoeuvres, even in 
his mid-’70s pomp, he has rarely ventured far from 
his Worcestershire manor. 
“If I cross this river now,” he explains, “I won't 
see another city before Boston, Massachusetts, 
and I can just hide in it all, and disappear. My 
madness is somewhat sated, if you like, by being 
out there in South Shropshire, and into Radnor- 
shire. It’s so beautiful.” 
He has struggled with having his ‘madness’ — 


his minstrel’s wanderlust — restricted by 
Covid. Recording for Raise The E was actually 
conducted prior, mostly across “two rapid visits 
to Nashville" either side of Christmas 2019. 
"Since then, I haven't been at home so much 
since my GCEs," he notes. His wings clipped, 
Plant spent much of 2020-21 organising 
his personal archive [see panel]. He kept in trim 
vocally via his country-folk sideline Saving Grace, 
which he gamely denominates as “Appalachian 


ROBERT PLANT ЖТТ Ni 


т | E. y 
Аа. 
q | 


= 


. 


mountain stuff played by eager British people who'll have a large 
gin and tonic before the encore.” Such fortification didn’t 
save a run of early-summer ’21 dates from falling foul of the lock- 
down extension. 

Between mouthfuls of grilled seabass in his local’s garden restau- 
rant, Plant concedes his tribulations were nothing compared to 
many. He is surprisingly self-effacing company (shyly, he admits he 
wept when he was presented with an Americana Music Association 
UK award іп 2018 by Wolverhampton Wanderers’ ’90s striker, 
Steve Bull) despite a wary undercurrent of ‘don’t mention the 
War’. So it’s rather surprising when he suddenly starts talking about 
Led Zeppelin. 

“We were growing in the '70s," he reflects, at a mention of that 
decade. “It was powerful and sensitive. There was a huge amount of 
endeavour in those days in Led Zep — up to a point. And that point 
was probably just exhaustion, and repetition, and there was no 
therapy for anything. You just kept going. If somebody didn't want 
to keep going, it would be awkward on the other three. And if 
somebody else didn't want to keep going..." He sighs. *Circum- 
stances change. We were all really young then, so what's to lose?" 

After the passing of his closest friend in the ranks, drummer 
John Bonham, in 1980, after which Zep activities ceased, there was 
quite probably, as he says, ‘no therapy’, either for that tragic be- 
reavement, or for the calamities that befell him personally in the 
preceding years: in 1975 he and his wife Maureen suffered debili- 
tating injuries in a car crash on the Greek island of Rhodes, curtail- 
ing Zep's heavy-touring regimen; two years later the couple lost 
their son Karac, aged five, to a gastric virus. 

That succession of traumas, all under the fiercest public 
scrutiny, prompted Plant, in his ensuing solo music, to 
take flight from anything remotely Zeppelin-esque, as he 
released a series of critically derided albums, which he 
concedes haven't dated well. 

“Гуе had a career with so many terrible moments 
in it," he says. “Just rubbish, a lot of it. In the '80s, I 
was trying to convince people that I still had something 
going on, pompadouring around in leather pants with a 
mullet, when really I wanted to join the Angelic Upstarts! 
I was free to fail. I wasn't a free transfer exactly, the label 
stuck with me, but I was a man out of step with what was going 
on. (Sighs) Гуе got so much to be apologetic about." 


HERE WAS A TURNING POINT ON 1993's FATE OF 

Nations, he says, when “I suddenly found I had enough 

cojones to approach Richard Thompson and [UK hurdy- 
gurdyist] Nigel Eaton, and start lifting the music and the intention, 
and actually get a grip, and grow up." 

Plant's reunion with Zep guitarist Jimmy Page for the following 
year's MIV-occasioned Unledded project remains a proud moment, 
thanks to its acknowledgment of Zeppelin's Eastern influences 
(their classic songs enhanced by à Moroccan string band and an 
Egyptian orchestra), but when it gradually led him back into enor- 
modomes ("they're so foul”), he bailed. 

His post-millennial career has been about indulging his World 
Traveller tastes with his unfolding group Strange Sensation, AKA 
Sensational Space Shifters, with intermittent left-turns into rootsy 
explorations such as Band Of Joy, a mid-'60s group name he reac- 
tivated in 2010 to work with Raising Sand touring guitarist > 





“I FOUND 
A VERY SWEET 
LETTER FROM 
MY MUM, SAYING 
| COULD ТАКЕ ОР 
THE JOB AT THE 
ACCOUNTANTS 
AS PLANNED.” 
“Plant 





IT’S BEEN A rite of passage under 
Covid: with nothing better todo, 
there's been alot of rummaging in 
lofts, discovering boxes of papers 
and crusty old cassette tapes. 
Unlike ourselves, however, a 
musician of Robert Plant’s vintage 
and magnitude is more likely to 
discover items of priceless interest. 

“It’s old recordings, unreleased 
stuff, posters, reviews, letters of 
revelation, photographs, 
everything," he says. "There's 
everything from 1966 onwards. 

But I'd not thrown open the 
trunks before. The lids had 
never come off.” 

As recently revealed in the 
opening episode of Season IV of 
Plant's Digging Deep podcast, 
one mindboggling artefact from 
1966-67 came in epistolary form. 

“|found a very sweet letter from 
my mum, addressed to me at my 
[now] ex-wife Maureen’s home, 
when we were 18. And I hadn't 
opened it! When I did so, it said that 
everything was OK, I could go home 
now, І could take up the job at the 
accountants as planned, and that 
Sue was waiting for me... It was like, 
oh shit! Imagine if | had opened it at 
the time - would І have gone back?" 

He sighs wistfully, reflecting on 
those days when he abandoned his 
‘straight’ girlfriend, Sue, anda 
settled, parentally approved path, 
in favour of a ‘rock life’ with 
Maureen Wilson, whom he'd met 
outside a postponed Georgie Fame 
concert. He continues, "Jimmy апа! 
wrote a song called Ten Years Gone, 
and all the lyrics were about that girl 
-the first girl lever loved!” 
Amidst a horde of 
forgotten tapes, Plant 
has found tracks 

recordedinan 
unlikely hook-up 










with Trevor Horn’s synthesizer 
duo, Buggles. 

“They were writing for Grace 
Jones at the time [circa 1985" Slave 
To The Rhythm], with [co-writer] 
Bruce Woolley. I didn't really know 
whatto do after about 1984-85. 
Richie Hayward had joined us from 
Little Feat, who played great; the 
band was good and played some 
pretty stuff, but I had to go off and 
try and do something sparkly, so | 
went all over the place. 

“At that time,” he continues, 
“Dave Stewart from Eurythmics was 
a really big help. He introduced me 
toa German guy called Robert Crash 
who had this group, Psychotic 
Tanks, and he was just something 
else, in this studio in Paddington, 
in a plastic raincoat. Two tracks were 
turned into Why, and Dance On My 
Own on [1988's] Now And Zen. But 
the demos, with an early drum 
machine and his insane guitar 
playing, with the greatest vocal 
soundin the world, in an eight- 
quid-an-hour studio - they're just 
so brilliant!" 

These, according to Plant, are 
just the tip of the iceberg. "There's 
aload of stuff that’s unheard,” he 
says, “from every era and period and 
combination of musicians that l've 
worked with." 

There's one combination of 
musicians fans the world over would 
be particularly interested in... 

"Well, they should be!” Plant 
mischievously replies. "And maybe 
they would be, but what condition 
they're іп, | don't know. Also, how do 
I really know how good anything is? 
| just know it’s there. I should geta 
call sooner or later..." He pauses, 
and smirks knowingly. “But don't 
worry, there's a guitarist | know, а 
Capricorn, who's probably got 10 
times more stuff than І have." 


ЕЗ 


Golden moments: а Вапа 
Of Joy-vintage Robert 
Plant, 1968; (top) Fate 
Of Nations (1993) and No 


Quarter (1994); (opposite 
раде) all Tr TE D M ир 
with Alison Krauss, 2009. 


“IT’S A MIRACLE, THIS — 
ALBUM=LPST WO PEOPLE 
ATA CERTAIN TIME IN 

THEIR LIVES DOING | 
SOMETHING THAT | 

NEITHER OF THEW 
EXPECTED? Pla 


= LI 


Saving grace: Krauss 

and Plant in 2008; (right) TM 
Mighty Rearranger (2005) Ss 
and Band Of Joy (2010). 


Camera Press/Nick Wilson 


<< Buddy Miller, and elfin singer Patty Griffin, with whom he soon 
Plant says of that 
short cohabitation. But he quickly found local reactions to his 


settled in Austin, Texas. “I lost my heart there,” 


celebrity too intrusive, and scurried back to Worcestershire. 

Band Of Joy reputedly all but completed a second album before 
their dissolution, and he winces at the notion of reconvening to 
complete it, but he clearly revels in the idea that there’s ‘nothing 
written in blood’ with any of his musical allies, that he’s free to 
roam in a way that those who’ve doggedly perpetuated their brand, 
like The Who and The Rolling Stones, never can. 

Plant emerged from the consecutive collaborations with Krauss 
and Griffin if not ‘feminised’ then at least ‘sensitised’. Arguably, it 
was another process that had begun around Fate Of Nations. 

“Maybe,” he says. “I’d been through enough by then, but I think 
there are moments, great songs, where I was trying to get what I felt 
into words, like That's The Way on Led Zeppelin III, and The Ocean 
was making a point about what was actually going on with all the 
fences coming down at festivals — a little bit of social commentary.” 

In MOJO 106 back in September 2002, Plant was tasked with 
compiling a tracklist for a single CD’s worth of the very best music 
from across his career. Presented with that tracklist today, he nods 
agreeably, suggesting a couple of selections from his last two Space 
Shifters records, then arching an eyebrow. “Just two Zeppelin 
tracks in there?" he says. *I'd probably add Achilles Last Stand, 
because that's frightening — us at our least charming, and most 
proficient — a Bonzo track where nobody could even believe a 
human could do it." 

That song off 1976’s Presence dates from the beginning of Led 
Zeppelin's terrible fall: Plant's smashed-up ankle from the car crash 
forced him, AKA Achilles, to record much of that album in a wheel- 
chair, and he has latterly described the song as “the sound of a man 
in pain". Some Zeppelin-era wounds have been slower to heal; fans 
and journalists won't let them. 

“Talking to me,” he bristles, “ 
hing goes back to the biggest thing that ever happened to me. From 


somewhere along the line, every- 


ct 


our angle, you have to see it like that, but there ain’t nothing really 


ا 


here apart from speculation.” 

Does the conversation between Plant and Page go on? 

“We’re 41 years into it now,” he says. “It’s a very charming 
question, and it comes in all languages! But the conversation doesn’t 


84 MOJO 





імі! T d нн 
ce 


really go on now, because that 





spaceship has [departed]. It’s 

obvious that that (pointing to MOJO’s CD copy of Raising Sand) is so 
different, and also has its own huge power and intensity — and good- 
will, that's the key. It's the thing that carries great joy, and that's 
what makes it tenable. 

“Pro-rata,” he concludes, “with the amount of time I've got left, 
however long that is, every day is like 10 days for all I know, so I 
can't waste, I can't tarry, with anything that isn't the proper ticket. 
Otherwise, I shouldn't be doing it at all." 


ORIALITY: IT COULD HARDIY BE MORE 
urgently addressed than by Geeshie Wiley's Last 
Kind Words Blues, a song, also, of the unbreacha- 
ble Xem separating the impoverished from dignity and happiness. 
It defines the mood of Raise The Roof, a more shadowy one than 
Raising Sand's, and one that was driven by Krauss. 

"Alison likes it dark,” says Т Bone Burnett. “One of her theories 
is that tempo has nothing to do with intensity. She's looking for 
maximum intensity. She wants to slow things down." One instance 
was a return dip into The Everly Brothers' songbook on The Price 
Of Love, in its original form an upbeat R&B stomper from 1965. 
Burnett: "Alison said, *That's a great song, let's just strip it down to 
nothing and see how dark we can make it.” 

On their last outing together, our Anglo-American odd couple 
had an often scampish, gadabout air. This time, the blues aren't so 
easily quashed, as songs of solitude and despair rub shoulders with 
one outright murder ballad (Ola Belle Reed's You Led Me To The 
Wrong). “Yes,” Plant counters, “but it has a wonderful sparkle, in 
its sorrow. It’s much more appropriate as the years go by, to get into 
expressing a lyric that has gravity. That’s how I feel.” 

As the evening light fades, Plant hustles MOJO out to the car- 
park. “My girlfriend and her mates will be here in a minute,” he 
explains. “She’s a Saxon, so she’s struggling with the [Celtic] locals. 

“But it’s a miracle, this album,” he reflects, finally. “It’s as old as 
it is new — a couple of people at a certain time in their lives, doing 
something that neither of them expected. It’s clean. There’s no 
going back, no going forward, it’s just, “This is it, today!’” He 
smiles, genuinely cherishing the moment. “That’s such a relief for 
me, and for Alison, too.” ІМ; 





YOUR GUIDE TO THE MONTH'S BEST MUSIC 


EDITED BY JENNY BULLEY jenny.bulley@bauermedia.co.uk 





ALBUMS 


Lindsey Buckingham bares his soul 
Hop onto Justin Vernon and Aaron Dessner's 
Big Red Machine 
































At the conceptual stage: Sturgill Simpson 
Saint Etienne: they're ready for the 905 
Smell the magic: Amyl And The Sniffers 
Plus, Matthew E White, Moor Mother, 
The Bug, Wanda Jackson, Shaun Ryder, Low, 
Gerry Rafferty, Grouper, The Specials and more. 


REISSUES 
Just getting started: 20-CDs of Van Der 
Graaf Generator 
Back to Black: Metallica’s monster turns 30 
Heavenly creatures: Super Furry Animals 
File Under: Chemist of sound, Owsley Stanley 
Plus, Ray Charles, Rory Gallagher, Boris, 
Petula Clark, Spiritualized, Emmylou Harris, 
Supergrass, Tintern Abbey, Desmond Dekker, 
Brian May and more. 


HOW TO BUY 


The Boss - Ms Ross. 


BOOKS 


Sticky notes: Warren Ellis's memoir 
Plus, Baxter Dury, Chris Jagger, crime 
and punishment folk, and more. 


Aarset, Eivind Quartet 93 
Afterlight 88 
All Night Radio 105 
Amyl And The Sniffers 89 
Big Red Machine 90 
Blackman, Robert 105 
Blow Monkeys, The 93 


Boris 102 
Buckingham, 

Lindsey 86 
Bug, The 88 
Carroll, Tia 95 
Charles, Ray 103 
Chilton, Alex 107 
Chvrches 98 
Clark, Petula 103 


Damon And Naomi 96 
Davachi, Sarah 92 
De Souza, Indigo 96 
Dekker, Desmond 103 
Fair, Jad & Kramer 98 
Felice Brothers, The 92 
Ferguson, David 92 
Finn, Tim & 

Manzanera, Phil 97 
Funke, Maxine 94 
Gallagher, Rory 105 


Gonzalez, José 91 
Grouper 96 
Grubbs, David 


& Walker, Ryley 98 


Gunn, Steve 88 
Haiku Salut 93 
Harris, Emmylou 102 
Hawk, Hamish 97 


Hawks, The 107 
Jackson, Tito 88 
Jackson, Wanda 88 
Jam & Lewis 95 
Karate 107 
Leone, Anna 96 
Low 91 
Manic Street Preachers 97 
May, Brian 103 
McMurtry,James 93 
McNabb, lan 98 
Metallica 102 
Moor Mother 91 


On Our Own Clock 93 
Orchestre Poly-Rythmo 
De Cotonou 

Dahomey 103 
Peyroux, Madeleine 105 
Rafferty, Gerry 93 


Romeo, Xana 94 
Ross, Diana 96 
Ryder, Shaun 91 
Saint Etienne 94 


Schwarz, Brinsley 96 
Scissor, Ed & 

Lamplighter 95 
Shadracks, The 97 


Shannon And 

The Clams 95 
Simpson, Sturgill 92 
Space Afrika 97 
Specials, The 96 


Spence, Joseph 105 
Spiritualized 105 


Steoples, The 95 
Stranglers, The 97 
Super Furry Animals 104 
Supergrass 102 
Taylor, Alexis 91 


Tintern Abbey 102 
Topley-Bird, Martina 91 
Toyah 98 
VA Cold Wave 2 94 
VA Das Wasteland 94 
VA Gare Du Nord 

Records 103 
VAGlobalSounds 103 
VAGoodAsGold 105 


VA Ghostbox: 
Intermission 98 
VA The Metallica 
Blacklist 92 
Van Der Graaf 

Generator 100 
Ward, Elder Jack 95 
W.H. Lung 91 


White, MatthewE 98 
Zedek, ThaliaBand 97 


MOJO 85 





FILTER ALBUMS 


Lindsey Buckingham 


Gone your own way 


Three years later than planned, Fleetwood Macs songwriter-in-exile bares his soul on 
a bittersweet seventh solo album. By Mark Blake. Illustration by Amy Nash. 


ЖЖЖЖ 


Lindsey Buckingham 


RHINO. CD/DL/LP 


N APRIL 1966, the American folk trio The Pozo- 
Seco Singers had a US hit with Time. Its 
thoughtful lyric (“Some roads are bathed in light/ 
Some wrapped in fearful black. ..”) belied their 
youth. But one of the group, future country crooner 
Don Williams, already sounded older than his 
twentysomething years. 

Lindsey Buckingham has covered Time on his 
new album. When the original was echoing out of 
car radios in his hometown of Atherton, near San 
Francisco, Buckingham was a 16-year-old member 
of his high school swim team. A 1966 yearbook 
photo shows him posing by the pool with a sensible 


haircut and chiselled abs. Soon after, he joined The 

Fritz Rabyne Memorial Band and met their singer, his later lover 
and Fleetwood Mac compadre/nemesis, Stevie Nicks. 

Here, Buckingham suffuses his version of Time with the wistful 
gravitas befitting a septuagenarian. It isn’t self-pitying, just gently 
resigned. It’s also a marker post on this highly personal solo album, 
his first since 2011’s Seeds We Sow. 

Lindsey Buckingham was good to go in 2018 but shelved when its 
composer’s career and private life started to unravel. First, he had 
one of his periodic spats with Nicks, leading to his shock dismissal 
from Fleetwood Mac. Then he suffered a heart attack, and now 
he’s splitting from his wife, Kristen, after 21 years of marriage. 
Contrariness has always been Buckingham’s forte. In 1979, he 


Getty 


86 MOJO 


BACK STORY: 
FAMILY MAN 

@ Released as his 
marriage to Kristen 
Messner (above, with 
LB) comes to an end, the 
songs on Lindsey 
Buckingham explore 
their domestic ups and 
downs. "You have to 
come away from things 
with a level of acceptance 
and be happy with what 
you've got," says 
Buckingham. "There's a 
20-year age difference 
between my wife and l. 

| didn't start raisinga 
family until late. | was 
48 when my eldest son 
was born. | saw a lot of 
people | knew try and be 
parents and spouses and 
rock'n'rollers and get 
screwed up. I’m glad 

| waited." 





masterminded Fleetwood Mac's magnificent, 
self-sabotaging Tusk as a follow-up to 
Rumours. Now, estranged from the group 
and in the midst of a pandemic and 
impending divorce, Lindsey Buckingham has 
released a brilliant, charming pop record. 

The 10 songs here broadly explore the 
challenges of maintaining a long-term 
relationship, *but in an academic and 
analytical way," Buckingham cautions. A 
rather academic and analytical statement 
which contrasts with the sing-song choruses 
raining down here like confetti at a wedding. 

Its opening track, Scream, whizzes by. 
“Oh I love it when you scream,” he implores 
in that familiar quaver. Screaming with 
pleasure or pain, though? Hard to tell in 
Buckingham’s songs, where love and hate 
get jumbled up. Scream pairs its grown-up 
subject matter with a nursery-rhyme drum, 
sounding like it’s being struck by a grinning 
toddler. A clever touch. 

For Tusk, Fleetwood Mac spent 
$1.4million on a bespoke studio at LA's 
Village Recorders, to replicate the acoustics 
in Buckingham's home-studio bathroom. 
Scream, like the rest of this album, sounds 
like it was recorded among the toothbrushes 
and spare toilet rolls, but it's never scuzzy or 
lo-fi. Instead, the listener feels like they're 











"Sing-song 
choruses rain 
down here like 

confetti at a 

wedding.” 


__ chez Buckingham, watching the drama unfold. It's 
intimate but also voyeuristic. 

I Don’t Mind has the sweetest chorus, with 
Buckingham delivering the bouncy backing vocals, 
just as he did on Fleetwood Mac’s hit Big Love 
(though most who bought the record presumed it 
was Stevie Nicks doing the “Oohs” and “Aahs”). 
Unavoidably, you wonder what this music would 
sound like with Nicks and her Mac partner 
Christine McVie’s voices alongside his. Again, 
though, he upends the song’s gleaming melody with 
a chilly lyric: “I don’t mind, weeping willow, on my 
pillow,” he sings imperiously. 

On The Wrong Side suggests Go Your Own Way 
rebooted for less innocent times. The original was 
one of those peerless, top-down, wind-in-the-hair 
driving anthems. On The Wrong Side trades a sports 
car for a family-friendly station wagon and there’s 
less hair being blown about. But Buckingham's 
fleet-fingered guitar solo on the run-out flashes 
back to 1977. He pulls off a similar trick on the 
jittery tango Swan Song, before peeling off a closing flurry of 
notes at breakneck speed. 

Buckingham has always relished being a one-man band: 
mentally marching around the studio, blowing a trombone, 
walloping a drum and crashing cymbals between his knees. You 
forget it’s all him, though, on Blind Love and Time. Both sound 
like '60s group efforts. Blind Love is a graceful ballad (with a hint 
of his 1981 hit Trouble in its rolling intro) and a bittersweet lyric: 
“If you've been lying to me... If you've been playing a part...” It 
sounds like something a teenage Lindsey would have awkwardly 
steered his prom date around the dancefloor to. 

While this music was made before the Buckinghams' total 
domestic meltdown, listeners will spot signs — real or imagined 
— which suggest it isn't going to end well. Blue Light subverts its 
happy-clappy chorus with an imploring lyric about never giving in. 
By contrast, Power Down is as unambiguous as it gets. The title 
says it all: Buckingham switching off the machinery as a metaphor 
for the plug being pulled on his marriage. The words — *Said your 
beginning was my end" — are sung over a rubbery bass line and 
rattling electronic percussion, and drive his point home. 

In 2016, Buckingham and his wife bought a 10-acre property in 
California's Santa Rosa. The song of that name here suggests their 
wine valley paradise wasn't all it was cracked up to be, as he urges 
his other half not to go there. The song's gorgeous country-flecked 
chorus only makes the parting of ways more poignant. 

This isn't Buckingham’s first rodeo. In 1984, he released a solo 
album, Go Insane, partly inspired by the slow tortuous death of a 
relationship. Older, wiser, he puts a cheerier spin on his heartache 
here. But its final track, Dancing, echoes that earlier work. His 
voice becomes the lead instrument, whispering about the *Poor 
little raven, has she lost her way?" over an ethereal backing. It 
sounds like it's sung by someone hiding in one room while their 
partner packs their suitcases in another. 

Solo Buckingham has often showcased the struggle between art 
and commerce. Not here. More than any solo album before, this 
one evokes his best work with you know who; its songs as bright as 
the California sun glinting off a rock star's swimming pool, but 
still tinged with sadness. *Go with the flow and keep a sense of 
humour,” is Lindsey Buckingham’s current maxim for life. You 
wonder if Fleetwood Mac realise what they're missing. 


BUCKINGHAM ON BAND, 
BRAND AND MARRIAGE... 





























Lindsey 
Buckingham: 
“1 wanted to 
make a pop 
record here.” 


y^ 


-- 





[ "m 
H 


4 M 1 Ca E э 






* There has been 
this sequence of 
strange events..." 


Lindsey Buckingham speaks to Mark Blake. 


You recorded this long-player three years ago. Were you 
tempted to change any of it, considering what has 
happened since? 


“Nothing's really changed on the record. But there has been 
this sequence of strange events that kept it from seeing the 
light of day." 


Starting with your parting of the ways with Fleetwood Mac 
in 2018? 


"| did the record with Christine McVie [Lindsey Buckingham 
Christine McVie in 2017] and wanted to go straight on to this. 
Fleetwood Mac wanted to tour. So we ended up going in a 
direction | didn't see coming [Buckingham was fired]. Stevie 
[Nicks] orchestrated that, and the others were stuck in the middle. 
| thought at this point in our careers it doesn't speak well of the 
legacy. So | had to restructure everything. But, hey, that's 
rock'n'roll..." 


Then you had a heart operation in 2019. 


"Yes, as soon as | got back into the idea of putting the album out, 
| started having health problems. So that kicked the whole thing 
down even further." 


Is it liberating making a solo album rather than a Fleetwood 
Mac album? 


"On one level, yes. But my solo work is often more esoteric, and 
you lose nine out of 10 listeners because you're disconnecting 
from their idea of what Fleetwood Mac is. But | wanted to make 
a pop record here." 


Is it fair to call this a relationship album? 


"| wrote these songs when my wife and | had been together a long 
time. Things drift. Suddenly, you're at a point where everyone is 
pulling to reboot the entire scenario of domestic life. That's 
something that happens. So while a lot of these songs are 
celebrating long-term relationships, they're doing it in a non- 
romanticised way." 


A song such as Blind Love sounds like a throwback to The 
Beach Boys in the '60s. Are you getting nostalgic? 


"| can be nostalgic. But | also try not to be too imitative. | could 
never write a song as good as Brian Wilson. On Blind Love, | was 
actually thinking of Sam Cooke, but it could just as easily have 
been The Beach Boys." 


You are touring with your own band during summer 2021, 
but could you see yourself performing with Fleetwood 

Mac again? 

"Of course. It would be so appropriate for the five of us to go out 
again, even if you want to call it a farewell tour. | didn't see the last 
shows [Fleetwood Mac's 2019 tour with Mike Campbell and Neil 
Finn] but | heard it was a little generic, like a covers band. That's 
fine, because there's always a faction of people who are coming 
for the brand, per se, and aren't going to differentiate in terms of 
members as long as Stevie is up there. But it would be great for us 
to share it one last time. | know Mick [Fleetwood] and Christine 
would love that to happen. Wait and see." 


88 MOJO 





Steve Gunn 
ЖЖЖЖ 
Other You 


MATADOR. CD/DL/LP 


Timeless songcraft and 
psychedelic guitar sorcery 
meet on Gunn's sixth. 


A former Kurt Vile sideman 
with a slew of experimental 
releases as a vagabond 
instrumentalist and itinerant 
collaborator behind him, Steve 
Gunn's sixth studio album 
strikes the happiest balance 
yet between his songwriting 
- lucid, tranquil, uncluttered, 
and unforced - and his 
mercurial gifts as a guitarist. 
Other You's songs are hushed, 
tender things, chamber pop 
miniatures and acoustic 
shuffles shaded by translucent 
synths and sharpened into the 
sort of playful pop that's a 
timeless pleasure, while 
suggesting a darker edge. 
His vocals, pitched somewhere 
between a burr and a whisper, 
hang back and play cool, 
while his guitar-playing is 
incandescent, psychedelic and 
consistently inspired. When 
these two elements spark off 
each other just right - like on 
the graceful, mystic, Nick 
Drake-ish On The Way, or 
Other You, with its dreamlike 
coda - they yield music that 
is dizzyingly beautiful, but 
never precious. 

Stevie Chick 


ШИИ 
Afterlight 


ЖЖЖЖ 
Afterlight 


AFTERLIGHT. CD/DL 


The horror of domestic 
abuse laid painfully bare, by 
Thea Gilmore’s new alias. 


After 19 

| albums record- 
2 ed under her 
own name, 
English singer- 
songwriter 
Thea Gilmore has reinvented 
herself as Afterlight. The 
catalyst for the change is not 
a pleasant one; for years, she 
says, she has been the victim 
of sustained domestic abuse. 
In spite of its redemptive title, 
Afterlight reveals in painful 
detail the physical and mental 
ordeal she has hidden for too 
long. Whether she’s being 
direct on Of All The Violence | 
Have Known (“I’ve known the 
harm of a hand through the 
air... the tightening of a fist in 
my hair”) or more oblique for 
26 Letters (“26 letters to tell 
you I'm scared"), it's heart- 
breaking and shocking. There 
is too much horror in these 
songs to unpack with the 








requisite care here, and sadly 
Afterlife will speak deeply to far 
too many women (and men). 
But with luck, it will also give 
them hope and courage. 

Andy Fyfe 


IIIIII 
Tito Jackson 


ЖЖЖЖ 
Under Your Spell 


GULF COAST. CD/DL 


Excellent follow-up to 2016’s 
Tito Time. 


The guests are 
head-turning 
on this second 
solo record by 
the Jackson 5/ 
Jacksons 
guitarist and singer - Kenny 
Gamble and Leon Huff come 
out of retirement to pen All In 
The Family Blues, a deliciously 
creamy duet with former 
O'Jays vocalist Eddie Levert; 
Stevie Wonder wails harmonica 
on Love One Another, the 
album’s first single and stand- 
out, a Sly-like #BLM future 
anthem; George Benson solos 
on a magnificent cover of B.B. 
King's Rock Me Baby which 
also features King's daughter 
Claudette on vocals; Bobby 
Rush, Tito's brother Marlon 
Jackson and Kenny Neal also 
join in. Despite the impressive 
roll call, Tito Jackson's rich 
voice and fluid guitar licks still 
dominate the album as he 
delivers messages of love, 
peace and civil rights in a funk 
blues setting that's effective 
and suits him very well indeed. 
Lois Wilson 


ПІШІН 
Wanda Jackson 


ЖЖЖЖ 


Encore 
BIG MACHINE/BLACKHEART. CD/DL 


The Queen of Rockabilly 
signs off in style. 





) Few artists 
have a record- 
ing career 
spanning 
| seven decades, 
| OL and fewer still 
would be capable of delivering 
such an assured and powerful 
final LP as this. Writing and 
performing in collaboration 
with a slew of female singers 
including Joan Jett and 
Angaleena Presley, Jackson 
reflects back on her life with 
her late husband Wendell 
Goodman, and such thoughts 


* “М “ 


із 
ү 4 


mma 





also seem to have inspired the 
beautifully pitched cover of 
Johnny Tillotson's country 
ballad It Keeps Right On 
A-Hurtin’. Two Shots drives 
along with a Mystery Train- 
style shuffle, Treat Me Like A 
Lady flips between '70s funk 
sections and late-night soul, 
while heartfelt closing track 
That's What Love Is repays the 
price of admission all on its 
own. Jackson is in magnificent 
voice throughout, and if this 
really turns out to be her 
valedictory album, it's a very 
fine way to leave the stage. 
Max Décharné 





ЖЖЖЖ 
Fire 
NINJA TUNE. CD/DL/LP 


Kevin Martin puts his Bug 
armour back on for a ragga- 
hop bloodbath. 


Prolific producer Kevin Martin 
likes to mix it up, with recent 
years’ output including the 
no-beats poetic heaviness of 
King Midas Sound's Solitude, 
his dark matter-ambient 
soundtrack for Solaris, and In 
Blue, a frigid tech-dub 
collaboration with Dis Fig. But 
you suspect he's happiest 
when the meter's in the red, 
the bass is sternum-bursting 
and the beats rain down as if 
from an expert pugilist. 
Following on in form, theme 
and mood from past triumphs 
London Zoo and Angels & Devils, 
Fire collides ragga, grime and 
hip-hop with London/ 
Kingston/Philadelphia/beyond 
microphone fiends including 
Flowdan, Manga Saint Hilare 
and FFSYTHO. City pressure, 
the military-industrial 
complex, social injustice, ganja 
and plague/lockdown 
frustration are soundtracked 
by city-sized industrial noise 
and merciless rhythm. After 
the condemnations, purging 
and exorcisms, the final track 
features Roger Robinson's 
words on the Grenfell Tower 
disaster, and is devastating. 
lan Harrison 






Ы > 


I 


Steve Gunn: 
timeless 
pleasure. 








Thunder 





Amyl And The Sniffers 
Comfort То Me 


ROUGH TRADE. CD/DL/LP 


“I WANT to get out of here,” Amy Taylor 
bristles on the super-catchy Hertz. “If you 
love me — hire me a car!” Anyone who’s seen 
Amyl And The Sniffers and marvelled at 
Taylor’s anarchic brand of crowd control can 
well imagine her bridling at Australia’s tough 
version of lockdown. Conceived with the 
quartet confined in Melbourne after two 
years on tour, Comfort To Me heralds 
Hurricane Amy’s vengeful return. “Don’t 
leave me alone,” she warns on opener Guided 
By Angels, as the band’s sticklebacked raw 
powerage twists and shapes like a fist through 
a wall. “Cuz when I can’t find you, I search...” 
Amy] still occupy a scrubland where 
various hard rock subgenres mongrelise 
merrily — a current Sniffers fave are New York 
hardcore band Warthog, essentially 
Motórhead chasing the Ramones — but it's 








down under \' 


| RMYL AND THE SMIFFERS 





a wilder, darker 
ride than 2019's | 
self-titled full- = 
length debut, which was itself а big sonic 
upgrade on the snotty street-hassle of early 
EP blasts like Im Not A Loser. This time, 
producer Dan Luscombe, a veteran of 
Australian moodists The Drones and 
Blackeyed Susans, can wield a lighter touch, 
because the Sniffers now flex serious road- 
muscle, in particular the Gus Romer/Bryce 
Wilson rhythm section. On Choices, Amy’s 
beautifully haughty “Ah, stuff ya!” summons 
a blast of precision torqued velocity, from 
which she unleashes her latest bespoke 
feminist manifesto: “Му choice, my own/ 
My voice, my own/My body, my own/I own 
it, I own it.” 

While personal and sexual politics were 
always implicit within Taylor's bovver girl 
workouts, her words have grown tougher and 
sharper, the serpentine flow on Laughing 
worthy of Thee Head Grrrl Kathleen Hanna. 
Capital is an unanticipated detour into 
vaguely Marxist theory, rapping on the 
oppression of Indigenous Australians (*Of 
course they have disdain for this place"). Not 
every gear-shift succeeds: Knifey calls out 


COMFORT TO ME 


FILTER ALBUMS 


Car trouble: Amyl And The 
Sniffers leave home (from left) 
Amy Taylor, Bryce Wilson, 

Gus Romer, Dec Martens. 









misogynist violence but its message 





t wilts amid a doomy riff that never 
delivers. The closing Snakes, 
however, is magnificent, a full-bore 
| declaration of working-class roots 
» | from this proud former 

| i Independent Grocers of Australia 
employee. “I like work more than 
education,” she spits, *Doesn't 
mean that I am stupid." 

Of course, what makes Amyl And The 
Sniffers such a great band is the acute 
intelligence they apply to the noble art of 
what Amy would term “gettin’ rowdy”. When 
guitarist Dec Martens locks into the heads- 
down no-nonsense outback boogie of Don't 
Need A Cunt (Like You To Love Me), it's a 
carefree, care-less noise worthy of Cosmic 
Psychos, Melbourne's legendary ‘grandaddies 
of grunge’, whose classic Can't Come In hangs 
like a blessing over the levitational Security: 
Amy demands entrance to a pub (*I'm not 
looking for trouble/I'm looking for love... I 
swear I'm not that drunk!") while the boys 
combust like The Damned after bagging a 
sponsorship from Victoria Bitter. 

Skin-shedding, lethal, self-sufficient and 
cool: no wonder Amy Taylor digs snakes. 
With Comfort To Me, she proves she can be 
whoever she wants, while the Sniffers 
confound preconceptions of how great a rude 
and righteous rock'n'roll band can still be. 
“Everyone is waving at the window," Amy 
exclaims amid Hertz's joyride. “It’s like 
they're excited we're here." Too right mate. 











MOJO 89 


































trust 


Second instalment of Justin Vernon 
and Aaron Dessners all-star 
team-up. By Stevie Chick 


Big Red Machine 


ЖЖЖЖ 
How Long Do You 


Think It's Gonna Last? 


37D03D/JAGJAGUWAR. CD/DL/LP 


COLLABORATION COMES as second 
nature to Aaron Dessner. Along with his work 
as songwriter and multi-instrumentalist with 
The National, Dessner’s CV is studded with 
team efforts such as Dark Was The Night, the 
AIDS benefit he helmed in 2008, and his 
star-packed Grateful Dead covers project, 
Day Of The Dead. His PEOPLE festival in 
Berlin, meanwhile, encourages kindred and 
disparate spirits to form new creative units 
together. And then there’s Big Red Machine. 
With its roots in a track of the same name the 
pair penned for Dark Was The Night, the 
project unites Dessner with Bon Iver’s Justin 
Vernon and — on this, their second album 
together — an eclectic guest list of friends 
sharing vocals and songwriting duties, 
including Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold, 
Sharon Van Etten and diamond-selling pop 
phenomenon Taylor Swift (whose recent shift 
towards alt-folk was shepherded by Dessner). 
More intimate and carefully crafted than 
2018’s experimental predecessor, the stellar 





90 MOJO 


Star spotters: Aaron, i 
Justin and friends of | 


il Б k^ the Big Red Machine. Y 
ata a” M. “ала 


Tools you can | 


ST 
а 


cast operate less like 
celebrity cameos and more 
like fellow travellers 
walking briefly in-step, their contributions of 
substance. Dessner and Vernon adapt to draw 
the best from their guests, with a directness 
that perfectly suits Swift’s succinct country- 
pop instincts on Renegade, or softening focus 
for the dulcet swoon of Pecknold’s Phoenix. 
And while always remaining anchored to their 
native universe of midlife melancholy and 

folk rock uplift, the duo often let the 
outsiders lead, an approach that takes them in 
some brilliant, unexpected directions, not 
least the ecstatic, percussive punk-funk 
cacophony of Easy To Sabotage, Vernon’s 
urgent Auto-Tune-drenched duet with Naeem 
(formerly known as Spank Rock). 

But for all the potency of these guest 
contributions, How Long... is still very much 
Dessner and Vernon’s album. Throughout, 
Vernon switches fluidly between his natural 
voice and the digitally manipulated vocal 
techniques he’s been exploring on recent Bon 
Iver releases, furthering those idiosyncratic 
methods. His vocodered croon sounds like 
a kaleidoscopic melodica amid the muted 
saxophones and gentle piano of Reese, and is 
artfully distorted and obscure, like Riot-era 
Sly Stone, on Hoping Then. Dessner even 
takes the microphone himself, for the first 
time in his career, on the heartening Simon & 
Garfunkel-ish strum of Ghost Of Cincinnati 
(originally penned for Swift, but better suiting 
his untutored whisper), and his moving, 
sweetly unabashed tribute to twin brother 
and bandmate, Brycie. 

Themes of nostalgia and loss unite these 





“Shining a light 
on childhood." 


Aaron Dessner speaks 
to Stevie Chick. 





You're a habitual collaborator... 


“I'm just wired that way. I’ve always played music 
with my twin brother Bryce, since we were little 
kids in the basement. As l've gotten older, l've 
only grown as an artist through collaborating. 
Every time you work with someone new, you put 
yourself in a position of vulnerability. But it's an 
incredibly important part of being an artist, 
taking that risk and jumping off that cliff. You just 
need courage to stick your neck out." 


What makes your partnership with Justin 
Vernon work? 


"He's an incredibly talented musician. But, most 
importantly, he gives me so much 
encouragement to keep exploring. And Big Red 
Machine is as much an excuse to hang out and 
mix it up with your friends as itis an actual band. 
We like to think of it almost like a laboratory that 
we invite friends into. We made the first record 
almost by accident, but this 
one was more intentional and 
more ambitious. We wanted 
this community of voices to 
sing these songs, which are like 
chapters of the same book, 
featuring different characters." 


You sing for the first time on 
this album - what took you 
so long? 


"| love what strong, charismatic 
singers like [The National 
bandmate] Matt Berninger, or 
Justin, or Taylor [Swift] bring to 

А my songs. But when | shared 
ыл = Brycie with Justin and Taylor, 
they were really moved by my 
voice, and Justin started pushing me to sing 
more. And when | played Ghosts Of Cincinnati to 
Taylor, she helped me finish it; she had this 
melody for me to sing. | don't imagine I'm going 
to become some great singer. But it is nice to stop 
hiding out in the shadows.” 


What’s the story behind Brycie? 


“When I was a teenager, | struggled with severe 
depression. And Bryce really was there for me. It 
was shocking to him to see me decline. He held 
me up, he did my homework, and he was very 
caring. So the song is really a love letter to my 
brother, thanking him for always being there, and 
hoping we get to grow old together. That's where 
the album title comes from, really, a line from the 
opening song, Latter Days, which Anais Mitchell 
wrote after hearing Brycie. And the album sleeve 
is Bryce and me and our sister with our great- 
grandmother Stella, who was 100 years old when 
that picture was taken in 1979. Families don't 
always stay together, and we have had family 
trauma, we've lost people along the way. The 
core idea of the record is shining a light on 
childhood, looking back to before you made 
mistakes or overextended yourself, and trying to 
find a remedy. It's something that | recognise in 
my relatives, in my parents, and in myself." 


songs, further echoed in Hutch (a gospelised 
tribute to late Frightened Rabbit frontman 
Scott Hutchison), in the teasingly out-of-reach 
memories of Latter Days (recorded with 
singer-songwriter Anais Mitchell). The result 
is a warmly autumnal, subtly adventurous 

set, with Dessner and Vernon's generous, 
uncontrived, communal approach completing 
the tightrope all such collaborative projects 
must walk, delivering a work profoundly 
greater than the sum of its parts. 


>, 
с religious Taylor touches on 


E 
Ф 
Ф 
= 
Л 
Q 
O 
cá 


José González 


KKK 
Local Valley 


CITY SLANG. CD/DL/LP 


Fourth album from subtle 
Swedish-Argentinian singer- 
songwriter. 


“We can’t know 
for sure what's 
next," sings 
José González 
wisely on 
Visions, a 
thrum of birdsong and drowsy 
bee-like guitar that contem- 
plates the possibility of utopia. 
There's no such uncertainty 
with Local Valley as one warm, 
thoughtful song follows 
another, protecting against 
any sudden shocks or unpre- 
dictable crashes. That's not to 
say it's dull - songs distinguish 
themselves with a bleaker 
edge (Horizons), a heavier beat 
(Tjomme), a glitchy groove 
(Swing), all as fresh and natural 
as if he'd wandered out into 
the garden to pick them like a 
handful of greens. The mood 
is set, almost in amber, by 
González's meditative, 
unshowy voice and delicately 
knotted guitar; he even revisits 
Line Of Fire, originally record- 
ed with his band Junip. Local 
Valley has no lows, nor any 
thrilling highs, but it's an 

even, easy pleasure from 

start to finish. 





Victoria Segal 





Alexis Taylor 
ЖЖЖЖ 


Silence 
ORBISTOR. DL/LP 


Hot Chip lead singer goes to 
his quiet place; finds solo 
concept album. 


Just after Alexis Taylor began 
formulating a record musing 
on the concept of silence – 
which would eventually 
become this, his sixth solo 
album - the Hot Chip frontman 
developed tinnitus in one ear. 
Rather than deter him, it 
galvanised Taylor into 
recording Silence just as the 
world fell quieter than it had 
for several lifetimes. The 
resulting songs are poignant 
and brittle, matching Taylor’s 
inimitable falsetto. Spare in 
instrumentation, they’re as far 
from the vivacious dance pop 
of Hot Chip as you can 
imagine. Melting Away is 
merely piano, cello and three 
doleful chords. | Look To 
Heaven adopts the tone of an 
unadorned, nonconformist 
hymn, one of several times 
that the avowedly non- 


spirituality. And while the 
Air-like vibraphone and hazy 
aura enveloping Dying In 


Heaven is something of an 
outlier, it too wields a powerful 
simplicity. By embracing 
the space between, Taylor 
has created a meditative, 
magical record. 

Stephen Worthy 


Ii 
Low 


ЖЖЖЖ 
Hey What 


SUB POP. CD/DL/LP 


More songs of faith and 
devotion from Duluth 
couple’s album 13. 


Hey What is 







LEN successive 
album with 





Burton, whose digital clipping, 
distortion and compression 
techniques wrought such a 
transformative impact upon 
2018's Double Negative that the 
band occasionally seemed like 
guests on their own record. 
Here, however, the informa- 
tion exchange attains a near 
perfect equilibrium between 
sanctified melody and distress 
signals, as per Days Like These, 
a mini-suite with one a cap- 
pella verse, another of exultant 
noise, then a long diaphanous 
coda. Mimi Parker and Alan 
Sparhawk's sepulchral voices 
stand resolute amid the turbu- 
lence, invoking a succession of 
peak Low moments: Disap- 
pearing's cyclical waveform 
acting as a sequel of sorts to 
1996's Over The Ocean ("That 
disappearing horizon, brings 
cold comfort to my soul"), or 
Don't Walk Away, a post-apoc- 
alyptic Can't Help Falling In 


Moor Mother 


ЖЖЖЖ 





Love. After almost 30 years 
documenting the bittersweet 
mysteries of life, this one’s for 
the angels. 

Keith Cameron 


Martina 
Topley-Bird 
ЖЖЖЖ 


Forever | Wait 
AWAL. DL/LP 


Trip-hop pioneer's first LP 
since 2010. Massive Attack's 
Del Naja and others guest. 


Martina Top- 
ley-Bird's 
fourth album 
was almost 
finished when 
her (and 
Tricky's) daughter Mazy took 
her own life in 2019. The title 
of Forever І Wait refers to the 
singer's patient efforts to 
override previous compromises 
born from parenthood duties 
and questionable advice, but 
you can imagine it also stands 
for an aching absence. What 
remains is Topley-Bird adopt- 
ing trip-hop's narcotic, edgy 
trademark for further adven- 
tures in soul, torch song, elec- 
tronica, dub; whatever best 
conveys the sentiment behind 
one-word titles such as Collide, 
Blood and Love. The teenager 
who gilded Tricky's epochal 
Maxinquaye is now in her 
forties, and her voice's levity 
and heaviness more clearly 
reveal a love of Billie Holiday. 
This feverish record ends 
beautifully with Rain, just 
voice, strings and hope: "One 
day while walking in the rain/l 
found my path along the way." 
Martin Aston. 


Black Encyclopedia 


Of The Air 


ANTI-. CD/DL/LP 


A flurry of co-conspirators ghost in 
and out of Philadelphian poet’s 
mesmerising nocturnal emissions. 


A VISUAL artist, activist and 
co-leader of free-jazzers Irreversible 
Entanglements, Moor Mother is just 
one facet of Camae Ayewa’s highly 
involved CV. Alongside Swedish 
producer Olof Melander she dreams 
up a shady alien sound world where 
wayward samples merge with 


scattered jazz licks, 


FILTER ALBUMS 





A. 


Shaun Ryder 
ЖЖЖЖ 


Visits From Future 
Technology 


SWRX RECORDINGS. CD/DL/LP 


‘Lost’ album from Salford’s 
irascible baggy bard is a 
warped pop keeper. 
Reduced to trading ghostly 
drug-brags over lukewarm 
dance beats on 2003’s solo 
debut Amateur Night In The Big 
Top, its sequel (reputedly 
rediscovered while spring 
cleaning) is the polar opposite. 
Whether rapping over low- 
slung funkers Mumbo Jumbo 
and Close The Dam or getting 
wistfully nostalgic over the 
shuffling Turn Off The Air, 
Visits... finds the “bouncing 
baby bighead” singer-turned- 
reality-TV-star’s knotty poetics 
and score-settling absurdisms 
at their tightest, odes to tea 
and toast riding a slinking 
jumble of funk, dub, psych 
and hip-hop, with a couple of 
unexpected gravelly detours 
into the blues. And if the 
music feels a little under- 
powered in places, the dreck 
count is nil on a party-starter 
on par with Pills 'N' Thrills-era 
Happy Mondays and early 
Black Grape. 





Andy Cowan 
















ғ 


W2) 


W. H. Lung 
ЖЖЖЖ 


Vanities 
MELODIC. CD/DL/LP 


Artful, invigorating take on 
what helped to pack '90s 
dancefloors. 


Vanities ends with Kaya, a 
rave-pop mover pitched 
between the Section 25 of 
From The Hip and the dance- 
floor insistence of Andrew 
Weatherall at his most 
anthemic. On the way to this 
ecstatic climax, the second 
album from Manchester's W.H. 
Lung gradually moves away 
from the motorik-infused 
doggedness perfected on 
2019's Incidental Music to a less 
impressionistic music; one 
aimed at the feet. Early on, 
Calm Down and Pearl In The 
Palm nod to their debut but by 
the album's midpoint it's clear 
a decision has been made to 
not repeat what came before. 
But this more direct W. H. Lung 
is still about righteous 
testimony. "It's only holy when 
we're together" proclaims 
frontman Joe Evans on ARPi. 
Showstopper conjures up the 
"god of dried apricots”. Vanities 
artily refines an exhilarating 
brand of up-front electro-dance. 
Kieron Tyler 





gurgling synths and live 
drums (not dissimilar 
to Zeroh). Within it, 
Moor Mother assumes 
different guises, 
wreathing together 
spirituals, poems and 
spoken words, her 
voice often stretched, 
manipulated and rendered 
unearthly, arousing a sort of fevered 
hallucinatory boom-bap in 


Moor Mother, 
seething with hot- 
tempered fury. 









continuum, where powerful 
pearls of wisdom about memory, 
the future and black injustice pierce 
the sonic murk. 


cacophonous rap-offs 
а with Elucid, Pink Siifu 

and Lojii that often seethe with 

hot-tempered fury. It’s a wilful 


shuffle through the space-time Andy Cowan 


MOJO 91 






| Dood abides 


Kentucky son continues 
his wondrous bluegrass 
odyssey. By Andy Fyfe. 


Sturgill Simpson 


ЖЖ Ж Ж 
The Ballad Of Dood 
And Juanita 


HIGH TOP MOUNTAIN/THIRTY TIGERS. CD/DL/LP 


WHAT A difference a couple of Grammy 
nominations (and a win) make. After 
rootlessly drifting from high school drug 
dealing to the navy to failing at his first 
attempt to gatecrash Nashville, Sturgill 
Simpson is now accepted as country 
music’s outlier present and future. So 
much so, in fact, that he can pretty much 
do as he damn pleases. 

Right now, what pleases Sturgill 
Simpson is a bluegrass concept album 
about a Civil War veteran who sets out 
for revenge against the bandit who left 
him dying in the dirt after kidnapping 
his wife. 

This isn’t Simpson’s first concept 
album. His 2014 breakthrough 
Metamodern Sounds In Country Music 
tried to bring traditionalism into the 
modern world; Grammy-winning 
A Sailors Guide To Earth was Simpson 
teaching his newborn son how to 
navigate life; Sound & Fury was also 
an anime film. 

And then there're the 
two Cuttin' Grass volumes, 
where Simpson re-recorded sitas 
a large chunk of his back 
catalogue as bluegrass tunes. 
While not concept albums 4 
per se, the idea of a major 
artist re-recording their 









quani 


ЫТЫ 


Sturgill Simpson: 
revelling in 

the confidence 
success bestows. 


songs in a different genre — not just 
rearranging them with an orchestra — 
may well be unprecedented. That his 
songs not just survived but actually 
thrived shows not only how strong 
Simpson’s songwriting is, but also that he 
is revelling in the confidence success has 
bestowed on him. 

Although his latest album's title has 
been in Simpson's head for years, the 
songs were not. Driving home after acting 
in Martin Scorsese's forthcomin 
DiCaprio/De Niro movie Killers Of The 
Flower Moon (see where success can land 
you?), he put Willie Nelson's Red Headed 
Stranger on the car stereo and by the 
journey's end he had mapped out 
his new concept. 

In just 25 minutes the 10 songs tell 
the linear story of Dood (named after his 
late grandfather) and Juanita's separation 
at gunpoint, his resolve to rescue her and 
the peace he finds in revenge: "A man and 
his rifle, à mule and his hound, one in the 
saddle and one on the ground..." (spoiler 
alert: the dog dies — this is, after all, a 
country album). 

Rather sweetly, Simpson comes full 
musical circle on Tex-Mex ballad Juanita 
with a guitar solo from his initial 
inspiration, Willie Nelson. It's a tune 
straight out of Marty Robbins' songbook, 
albeit played with the same bluegrass 
band who cut the Cuttin' Grass sessions. 

The only unsatisfactory element of The 
Ballad Of Dood & Juanita is 
that it's too short, and how 
many concept albums can 
boast that? And if Sturgill 
Simpson was to spend the 
rest of his career purely as a 
bluegrass artist, well, that 
would be just fine too. 














STURGILL SIMPSON 


92 MOJO 








David Ferguson 


ЖЖЖ 
Nashville No More 


FAT POSSUM. CD/DL/LP 


Nashville producer makes 
debut album just shy of 
60th birthday. 

mri ware Known simply 
as ‘Fergie’ 
around his 
Nashville 
hometown, 

21:11 David Fergu- 
son is the engineer, producer, 
songwriter and studio owner 
(sometimes all four) behind 
some of the city’s greatest 
recordings. From legends 
Johnny Cash and John Prine to 
relative newcomers Margo 
Price, Sturgill Simpson and 
Jake Bugg, he’s worked with 
more names than you've had 
hot grits. Possessed of a pro- 
ducer's voice - heartwarming, 
but limited rather than scorch- 
ing – Fergie bounds enthusias- 
tically through 10 covers by 
the likes of Lee Hazlewood, 
Gordon Lightfoot, Guy Clark, 
and lan Tyson's oft-covered 
Four Strong Winds. The jewel, 
and the song he takes most 
care with, is Pat McLaughlin's 
all-but-titular Knocking 
Around Nashville, a ballad of 
lost love that, in Fergie's 
hands, becomes a lament for 
the days before Nashville's 
famed Music Row became 
little more than a theme park 
of bars and gift shops. 

Andy Fyfe 


1111111111 
Various 


ЖЖ 
The Metallica Blacklist 


BLACKENED/UNIVERSAL. CD/DL/LP 


Overblown tribute to their 
‘Black Album’ on its 30th. 
Profits to charity! 


Metallica’s 
self-titled 1991 
monolith could 
in theory yield 
a well-curated 
covers set that 
shines new light on 12 songs 
which, for some, have been 
dulled through familiarity. The 
Blacklist, alas, runs to a self- 
aggrandising 53 tracks. A 
handful work, either by over- 
hauling the source material 

- My Friend Of Misery plunged 
into Kamasi Washington's 
cosmic jazz whirlpool - or 
because the artists sound at 
ease with their chosen tunes. 
St Vincent and Jason Isbell 
respectively render Sad But 
True as a robo-rock strut and 
swampy twang"n'roll, and in 
both cases you can imagine 
them playing these versions for 
fun. Same goes for hardcore 
punk vets OFF! slaloming 
through Holier Than Thou and 
Rodrigo Y Gabriela doing their 
acoustic instrumental flamenco 
with The Struggle Within. The 
other 48 selections feel forced 
or too like karaoke homework 
– the low point being a dozen 
mind-numbing takes on radio 
ballad Nothing Else Matters. 
(See Reissues page 102 for 
Metallica remastered.) 

Manish Agarwal 








Sarah Davachi 


ЖЖЖЖ 
Antiphonals 


LATE MUSIC. CD/DL/LP/MC 


Canadian electroacoustic 
composer continues to 
capture ghosts in sound. 
p WE | he term 
| ee "antiphonal" 
‚ И refers to music 
9 performed by 
| two choirs in 
" interaction, 
often singing alternate musical 
phrases or a cantor leading a 
choir in call-and-response. For 
Sarah Davachi, this response 
comes in the form of sound- 
on-sound tape delay, 'answer- 
ing' melodies created by elec- 
tric organ, piano, synthesizer 
and mellotron. Davachi's 
sound-world suggests Decca, 
Abbey Road or Sound Tech- 
niques studios in the early '70s, 
her mellotron samples of flute, 
clarinet, recorder, oboe, French 
horn, and nylon-string guitar 
calling to mind ghost record- 
ings by, say, Nick Drake, Tudor 
Lodge or David Munrow's Early 
Music Consort. It's about rep- 
etition modal sequencing as a 
site of harmonic and textural 
creativity, and it's an uncannily 
beautiful listening experience, 
like capturing a fragment of a 
fading folk song in the 
moment before sleep and 
hearing its echoes resonate 
and disintegrate throughout 
your dreams. 
Andrew Male 


The Felice 
Brothers 


ЖЖЖЖ 


From Dreams То Dust 
YEP ROC. CD/DL/LP 


Ramshackle country-rock 
dispatches sharpened by 
a keen, unpredictable wit. 


77 7 Americana сап 
sometimes 
curdle into 
UNE X" mawkishness, 
И... Mid A afateThe 

T ааа Felice Brothers 
evade via the indignant, acerbic 
sneer with which frontman lan 
Felice delivers his folk rock 
parables. Recorded in a 19th 
century church, their eighth 
studio album finds blackly 
comedic visions of the apoca- 
lypse (Jazz On The Autobahn) 
rubbing ragged shoulders 
with far-fetched inventories 
(the hilarious To-Do List, 
wherein they plan to “Defy all 
natural laws”, among other 
more outlandish schemes), 
and rousing anthems that 
promise to unite “Francis of 
Assisi” and “Fans of AC/DC” 
(We Shall Live Again). Through- 
out, the Brothers’ riotous dust- 
bowl carnival sounds and lan’s 
pointed deadpan make for a 
consistently entertaining 
cocktail, while a mid-way 
turn towards melancholy - in 
particular Be At Rest, as Felice 
reads his own imaginary and 
unsentimental funeral eulogy 
— proves that beneath the 
droll veneer they really 
mean it, man. 





Stevie Chick 


Tseliso Monaheng 


The Blow Monkeys 
ЖЖЖЖ 


Journey To You 
BLOW MONKEY MUSIC. CD/DL/LP 


Celebrating 40 years with 
strong, inviting album. 


Written in what 
Dr Robert calls 
“a frenzy”, this 
seventh long- 
player since 
the group 
reformed in 2007 might just be 
their best. It’s definitely a 
match for their classic '80s 
period, with Dr Robert's soul- 
ful croon uplifting in tone 
throughout. The band - the 
original line-up of saxist Neville 
Henry and bassist Mick Anker 
with former Galliano drummer 
Crispin Taylor replacing Tony 
Kiley – are a unifying force and 
there's an effortlessness to 
their funk groove. Dr Robert 
namechecks Bacharach & 
David as a songwriting influ- 
ence on the album and there 
are ear worm melodies and 
emotional drama galore. "For- 
give me for the fool l've been," 
he begs on centrepiece More 
Than A Miracle. Laden with 
luxuriant strings and horns 
and a glitter ball production 
created in Dr Robert's home 
studio in southern Andalucía, 
how could we not? 





Lois Wilson 


Eivind Aarset 
Quartet 
ЖЖЖЖ 


Phantasmagoria 
Or A Different Kind 
Of Journey 


JAZZLAND. CD/DL 


Norwegian post-rock guitar 
maestro takes an immersive 
psychedelic trip. 


Any electric 
guitar group 
that chooses to 
do without 
vocals has to 
work harder to 
tickle the ears – from The 
Shadows to Mogwai. Guitarist 
Eivind Aarset, a mainstay of 
the cultishly influential Nordic 
new music scene, does so not 
through blasts of look-at-me 
virtuosity but by building up 
immersive musical worlds 








from thickly stacked textures. 
You'll hear everything from 
surf guitar to spy-movie twang 
to Robert Fripp-style sound- 
scaping as well as the odd 
thrash weave in and out of 
these nine mini-epics. Aarset is 
aided by sampling wizard Jan 
Bang, field recordings from 
John Derek Bishop (Tortusa), 
and on one track trumpeter 
Arve Henriksen, as he conjures 
his dreamscapes. However far 
out Aarset travels, he never 
loses touch with melody, and 
his ninth album as leader could 
be his best. 

John Bungey 


Y 


I» 


~ 


i “РГЕН. 
1 та. vial 





Gerry Rafferty 
ЖЖЖЖ 
Rest In Blue 


PLG UK. CD/DL 


Posthumous release of the 
Baker Street man’s final 
studio album. 


Like Etta James, like Chet 
Baker, Gerry Rafferty hada 
voice that caressed the ear, 
every errant frequency EQ'd 
out by God. As his sometime 
Humblebums bandmate Billy 
Connolly has noted, moreover, 
Rafferty sounds better than 
ever on Rest In Blue, a work in 
progress from 2006 until his 
death in 2011. With time- 
served collaborators including 
guitarist Hugh Burns on hand, 
Rafferty's daughter Martha 
now brings her father's vision 
to harbour, a version of Wild 
Mountain Thyme that would 
bring tears to a glass eye and 
a stately cover of Richard And 
Linda Thompson’s It's Just The 
Motion augmenting classy 
Rafferty originals such as You 
Are All | Want and Slow Down 
(wherein producer Tambala's 
approach makes subtle nods 
to Baker Street). There's a 
telling look in the mirror too, 
Still In Denial and Full Moon 
acknowledging Rafferty's 
battle with alcoholism. 

James McNair 


The Blow 
Monkeys: 
miracle 
workers. 


ғ AME у ` ! | 
rt XUI 


Haiku Salut 


ЖЖЖЖ 
The Hill, The Light, 
The Ghost 


SECRET NAME. CD/DL/LP 


Engagingly wistful fifth 
album from Derbyshire 
Dales instrumental trio. 


Starting life as 
a series of field 
recordings 
captured in 
charged loca- 
tions -an 
abandoned house in Germany, 
the birdsong-framed Peak 
District countryside - The Hill, 
The Light, The Ghost is pitched 
as "a miniature exploration of 
sound in relation to memory". 
From this near-Proustian 
premise, multi-instrumental- 
ists Louise Croft, Sophie Bark- 
erwood and Gemma Barker- 
wood conjure nine wordless, 
shape-shifting essays using 
keyboards, electronics, guitars 
and orchestral instruments. 
Opener Wide Awake's raindrop 
piano and enveloping strings 
recall Virginia Astley's pastoral 
From Gardens Where We Feel 
Secure, while genre-refuting 
We Need These Beams marries 
sepulchral electric guitar to 
fluttering circuitry and All 
Watched Over By Machines Of 
Loving Grace, named after a 
Richard Brautigan poem (or 
perhaps a subsequent Adam 
Curtis documentary), layers its 
synths, glitchy melodies and 
bell-like tones into a soaring, 
heart-swelling crescendo - 
stadium ambient, if you will. 
David Sheppard 





James McMurtry 


ЖЖЖ 
The Horses And 
The Hounds 


NEW WEST. CD/DL/LP 


Texan troubadour’s 10th 
studio album. 


It’s been six 
years since 
Complicated 
Game (2015) 

- McMurtry's 
lean, literate 
last album, and arguably his 
best, though its two predeces- 
sors Just Us Kids (2008) and 
Childish Things (2005) were also 
formidable. The times between 
were spent on the road, which 
accounts for the grit in his voice 
and the ease of his delivery. 
Most of these 10 new songs 
sound made for a roadhouse 
stage, yet the lyrics read like 
American short stories, with 
various protagonists: the man 
behind the wheel whose wife 
keeps phoning to complain 
(What's The Matter); the 
uncomplaining woman who 
meets a tragic end (ballad 
Jackie). For this LP, McMurtry 
went back to producer (Ross 
Hogarth) and guitarist (David 
Grissom) from his early major 
label albums. It's good. Not 
quite up to par with the last 
three indie label releases, but 
he set the bar high. Standouts: 
Canola Fields and Decent Man. 
Sylvie Simmons 





On Our Own Clock 


ЖЖЖЖ 
On Our Own Clock 


MUSHROOM HOUR HALF HOUR/TOTAL 


REFRESHMENT CENTRE. DL/LP 


Inspiration runs rife as kindred 





spirits from South Africa, Senegal 


and London combine. 


DESPITE PLANS to collaborate in person rendered null and void 
by you-know-what, On Our Own Clock pressed ahead with their 
debut regardless: files from one-day sessions in Johannesburg 
and London exchanged and responded to a calendar month 
later. Skip the three time-stamped interludes and you're inducted 
into a harmonious meeting of like minds where spiritually 
uplifting, groove-based highlights Dune Dance and Cuts And 
Pieces make good on Alabaster dePlume’s whirling sax, Siya 
Makuzeni's (pictured) sly trombone and Tebogo ‘AusTebza’ 
Sedumedi's corkscrewing bass lines. Add in Tarang Cissoko's 
soothing kora, Danalogue's swerving keyboards, Grandmaster 
Cap's low-rumbling rapped positivity and the room-rattling skills 
of tuba don Theon Cross, and On Our Own Clock is a serene and 
spacious refuge where it's nigh impossible to hear the joins. 





ALSO RELEASED 


Bram Weijters' 
Crazy Men 


ЖЖЖЖ 
The Return 
SDBAN ULTRA. CD/DL/LP 


Inspired by a rare 
1974 long-player by 
ill-starred pianist 
Koen de Bruyne, 

ШШ Antwerp keyboard 
master Bram Weijters' second 
deep dive into '70s Belgian jazz 
rock does more than just reheat 
the originals. Whether ladling 
vocal samples over a bastardised 
pair of Jack van Poll tracks 
(Objízdka), or slyly referencing 
Bitches Brew (on the woodwind- 
roaring Pathetic Sounds), these 
free-spirited fusions sing with 
swing, groove and sparkle. 


Flukten 
ЖЖЖЖ 


Velkommen Нар 
ODIN. CD/DL/LP 


Little over a year 

- since Flukten’s first 
concert at Oslo’s 
Victoria Nasjonal 
Jazzscene, comes a 
wide-spanning debut that makes 
the most of Hanna Paulsberg’s 
blistering sax over a riotous 
rhythm section (Bárður Reinert 
Poulsen, Hans Hulbaekmo) 
seemingly battling severe ADHD. 
Flukten's lovelier side surfaces 
amid Marius Hirth Klovning's 
mellow guitar ruminations on 
Jonas Og Hvalen, while sideways 
nods to Per Johansson and Paul 
Motian complete a thrillingly 
uneasy listen. 


Ihe Та 








Kiefer 


ЖЖЖЖ 
When There's 
Love Around 
STONES THROW. DL/LP 


g The first band LP 
from LA keyboardist 
and Anderson .Paak 
producer makes 

кычы good on Kiefer's 
laidback, beat-detailed jazz and 
R&B hybrid. While the smooth 
title track (a Crusaders cover) lets 
an A-team of West Coast players 
shine, Crybaby and | Love My 
Friends - played in a riffy trio — 
better allow his free-flowing, 
fluttery keys to work their easy- 
going yet expressive magic. 





Jermiah 
Cymerman 
ЖЖЖЖ 
Citadels & Sanctuaries 
5049. CD/DL 
Fourth world 
sounds abound on 
this NYC avant- 
| garde scene 
clarinettist’s fifth 
solo album - a love letter to his 
favourite composers. From 
prettified curlicues for late 
visionary Bill Smith to higher- 
pitched extended techniques for 
Alvin Lucier or raw-nerve electric 
crickets for Horatiu Radulescu, 
Cymerman’s chimerical sounds 
chime with emotional force. A 
standout finale, for free jazz 
master Evan Parker, makes 
spectral hay with percussionists 
Mark Nauseef and Toma 
Gouband. AC 


MOJO 93 


I | 
Millennial moments: 
Saint Etienne (from 


left) Bob Stanley, Sarah 
Cracknell, Pete Wiggs. 





Sight specific 


Saint Etienne 


Гуе Been Irying 
To Tell You 


HEAVENLY. CD/DL/LP 


SOMETIMES FOR better, sometimes for 
worse, it’s never been too difficult to slot 
Saint Etienne into a very English 
pigeonhole: the occasional indie-dance 
banger, a detached but warm undertow 
and an all-encompassing adoration of pop 
which understands that Who Do You 
Think You Are? and Only Love Can Break 
Your Heart are equally wondrous. Thirty 
years after their debut album, maybe it’s 
time to overturn the old order. 

Before it takes hold — and take hold it 
most surely does — Гуе Been Trying To Tell 
You is a surprisingly harsh-sounding 
collage of seemingly unrelated sounds. 
Indeed, in a plan conceived before 
lockdown, Bob Stanley, Pete Wiggs and 
an engagingly quivery Sarah Cracknell 
recorded in separate studios, convening 
only via Zoom. The multi-layered concept 
is a quixotic, politically charged, dream- 
like attempt to recapture the optimistic 
national mood between Tony Blair 
sweeping to power in May 1997 and the 
9/11 terror attacks. It’s also the sound- 
track to an Alasdair McLellan-directed 
travelogue film, where the only dialogue 
is taken from ’90s Saint 
Etienne songs. 

Their comparison is Lil’ 
Beethoven, the Sparks album 
which both broke new 
ground and served as a 
reminder of an 
extraordinary back 





94 MOJO 





catalogue, but I’ve Been Trying To Tell You 
is more open-ended. It’s packed with 
recently recorded found sound: birdsong 
from Low Biggins in Westmorland; lift 
machinery from a Cardiff hotel; a 
Felixstowe pebble beach and a squeaky 
gate next to a stone circle near Wigton. 

And there are cunningly deployed 
samples, seeking to transport the listener 
back to the late-’90s, in terms of feel and 
memory, rather than jukebox. Tasmin 
Archer features on the stentorian, 
brooding closing near-instrumental 
Broad River. Sleeping Satellite would be 
too obvious and too recognisable, so 
instead it’s a loop from the darkly bereft 
Ripped Inside, taken from Great 
Expectations, the 1992 (exact time period 
be damned) album which spawned the 
hit. Natalie Imbruglia’s in there too. 

The ’97-9/11 period remains 
tantalisingly out of reach, so embracing 
the precise concept requires an almighty 
leap of listener faith, and little wonder 
even Stanley describes it as both “high” 
and “pretentious”. All the same, as an 
album, I’ve Been Irying To Tell You works 
wonderfully on many levels. Those harsh 
first impressions give way to something 
altogether more beautiful, from the 
moment Music Again finds Cracknell 
gliding like peak-period Enya, to the 
irresistible, super-catchy Penlop. 

There’s reverie and floating nostalgia 
to spare in the instrumental Blue Kite; in 
Pond House, where Cracknell chants 
“here it comes again” with sinister intent; 
and in the eerie I Remember It Well. 
Nothing, though, quite 
surpasses Little K, with its 
earworm hook, Cracknell at 
her most ethereal, and a 
delicious, lengthy coda 
which in itself encapsulates 
the whole crazy, silly, 
inspired idea. 











Various 
Das Wasteland: 
Berlin Vol. 182 


DAS WASTELAND. DL/LP 


A divided city 
throughout 
- rock’s classic 
20 age, Berlin's 

| edgy allure has 
aJ always lured 
foreign musicians, especially 
the more bohemian-leaning, 
after Bowie and Iggy’s famous 
cool-off period there in the 
"705. Since the Wall fell, that 
trend has only intensified, 
thanks to its low living costs 
and 24-7 creative atmosphere. 
From a new label started by 
Brit rock photographer (and 
sometime Fabulous guitarist) 
Martyn Goodacre, Das Waste- 
land documents its under- 
ground ex-pat art-rock scene. 
The star turn is a blissfully 
meandering unheard mix of 
Tim Burgess’ The Doors Of Then 
from long-time Prenzlauer Berg 
resident Anton Newcombe, 
but there are many intriguing 
and mainstream-oblivious 
sounds aboard. From Vagrant 
Lovers’ Patti-esque post-punk/ 
poetry collision and Irish nov- 
elist Rob Doyle’s sinister spo- 
ken-word team-up with Saint 
Leonard, through to above-par 
alt-indie from Art Brut, Drab 
City and the excellent female- 
fronted Stony Sugarskull, these 
17 tracks’ colourful diversity 
only multiply the longing for a 
cheap-flight weekender trawl- 
ing Berlin's netherworld dives. 
Andrew Perry 


III 
Maxine Funke 





Seance 
A COLOURFUL STORM. DL/LP 


Songs sung in 
houses at night 
have a special 
other-worldly 
rs quality. First, 
there is the 
whispered delivery, so as not to 
wake the neighbours. Second, 
there is the quality of the night 
itself, how it allows stranger 
thoughts to come, images 
suffused with dream-logic and 
untrammelled by the day's 
obligations. This is Maxine 
Funke's world, just voice, 
acoustic guitar and occasional 
synth drone and tape whirr 
giving flight to songs born in 
moonlight, part riddle, part 
whispered confessional, with 
occasional unsettling quotes 
from the ghost stories of 
Charlotte Riddell and 
MR James. Parallels might be 
drawn with the evensongs of 
Sibylle Baier and Wendy Eisen- 
berg or the spectral folk songs 
of Funke's former partner 
Alastair Galbraith, but there 
exists a magic here all of 
Funke's own, a style of 
songwriting that inhabits a 





unique space between a sweet 
serenade and ancient sorcery. 
Andrew Male 


1111I 
Various 


Cold Wave #2 


SOUL JAZZ. CD/DL/LP 


my Despite being 
EE a movement 
COLD characterised 
WAVES by a certain 
ES impassivity, a 
growing band 
of contemporary cold wave 
artists are causing excitement. 
As the second in this enlight- 
ening series attests, the likes of 
Parisian producer Krikor 
Kouchian and Amsterdam's 
Job Sifre combine lo-fi elec- 
tronics, nonchalant vocals and 
a strong DIY attitude - just as 
their heroes Martin Hannett 
and Asylum Party did four 
decades ago. Kouchian's con- 
tribution, Deserver Dub, fires 
ray guns and abrasive echo 
across a twisted rhythm for max 
carnage. At Least We Try sees 
temperatures plummet on a 
record that lurches like a train 
coupling. Elsewhere, the stark, 
martial two-step underpinning 
Stay Away From The Light by 
Hamburg's L.F T. is a short leap 
from the primitive synth drums 
and thrashing pace that propel 
Sleaford Mods. Far from a 
nostalgia trip, this new breed 
of cold wave artists exhibit a 
detachment and energy that 
fit these times perfectly. 
Stephen Worthy 


ШИИ 
Xana Romeo 


ки 


The Roots Of X 


XANA ROMEO MUSIC. DL 


In the five 
years since 
debut album 
Wake Up first 
surfaced, Max 
| Ei Romeo's 
daughter Xana has honed her 
craft, appearing on stages 
around the world and experi- 
menting with different styles 
at the family's home studio. 
Long-awaited second set The 
Roots Of X shows growing 
maturity with a stronger com- 
mand of expressive vibrato on 
sung numbers and seamless 
flow on rapped interludes, the 
lyrics underpinned by Rastafari 
spirituality, as heard on opener 
Holy and repatriation song 
Africa Is Calling. Very much a 
family affair, most of the dub- 
heavy rhythms were built by 
brother Azizzi with Jallanzo 
Johnson of Dubtonic Kru, and 
father Max guests on Youths 
First, while uncle Lindy pro- 
duced Spiritual Guide, which 
has a fine melodica lead by 
Addis Pablo. There are also 
adaptations of Judy Mowatt's 
Slave Queen and Marlena 
Shaw's Woman Of The Ghetto. 
David Katz 





Ed Scissor + 
Lamplighter 
ЖЖЖЖ 
Joysville 

HIGH FOCUS. CD/DL/LP 


Dead of night poetics and 
crystalline synths dominate 
hip-hop pair’s third album. 


Five years after the dark 
introspection of Tell Them It’s 
Winter confirmed Ed Scissor + 
Lamplighter as UK hip-hop 
outliers, Joysville corroborates 
that status. Evolved freely from 
the Glasgow producer's 
brooding and spare electronic 
vigils, Scissor’s dark mutterings 
and deadpan crepuscular 
storytelling connive with 
synths that pitter-patter like 
icy rain. From the Kraftwerkian 
melody lurking in the title 
track’s pinched bass to the 
joyous synthetic horns railing 
against the echoed piano of 
Been A Minute, it’s far from 
one-note, with Scissor’s battle 
rap pedigree cutting through 
the sci-fi-edged Plenty, Time 
— poppy by their austere 
standards. Party-poopers 
they may be, but the folkloric 
time distortions of closer 
Valentines suggest 
redemption is finally within 
reach, after a bumpy ride in 
parts bleak, heart-breaking 
and beautiful. 

Andy Cowan 


ИП 
Elder Jack Ward 


ЖЖЖЖ 
Already Made 


BIBLE & TIRE RECORDING CO. CD/DL/LP 


At 83, this gospel veteran 
puts another disc on God's 
jukebox. 


From Itta Bena, 
Mississippi, 
Elder Jack 
Ward hada 
local hit in 
1964 with The 
Christian Harmonizers called 
Don't Need No Doctor, its 
sanctified message delivered 





Jimmy Jam and 
Terry Lewis, set to 
release the 808. 


with a secular blues feel. Ward 
also recorded with The Gospel 
Four and stood in for OV 
Wright in The Sunset Travelers, 
but by the late '70s had fallen 
under the radar. Already Made 
is the kind of record that could 
change that. Anchored with 
precision by the Sacred Soul 
house band, a modern day 
Swampers, it’s awash with 
church-like organ and embel- 
lished with sweet call-and- 
response by Ward’s daughters. 
His star power is evident 
throughout, his voice on bal- 
lads such as | Feel Better Since | 
Prayed soothes like a warm 
embrace and on testifiers, such 
as The Way Is Already Made, 
truly shakes the foundations. 
Lois Wilson 





Jam & Lewis 
ЖЖЖ 


Volume | 
FLYTE TYME/BMG. CD/DL 


Classic-sounding debut from 
the legendary songwriting/ 
production duo. 


Recorded piecemeal over 
three years at Flyte Tyme, 
Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis's 
studio in Agoura Hills, Los 
Angeles, Volume 1 is a star- 
studded affair featuring 
Mariah Carey, Tony Braxton, 
Babyface, Usher and others. 
The pair, who perhaps more 
than any other production/ 
songwriting team master- 
minded the sound of modern 
R&B, here set out to create 
what they call "newsalgia", 
something new that also takes 
you back to a golden age. They 
released their fabled 808 to 
help - it usually resides in a 
Plexiglas case in the studio - 
and achieved what they 
wanted: Mariah Carey scaling 
dramatic peaks on Somewhat 
Loved (There You Go Breakin' 
My Heart); Babyface 
recrowned the king of quiet 
storm on He Don't Know 
Nothin' Bout It, and Usher, the 
love doctor, all breathy and 
hot on Do It Yourself. 

Lois Wilson 








Shannon And 
The Clams 


ЖЖЖ 
Year Of The Spider 


EASY EYE SOUND. CD/DL/LP 


Follow-up to 2018’s Onion, 
again recorded in Nashville, 
Dan Auerbach producing. 


Roughly half 
d 
the songs on 
this sixth 
album by Oak- 
gy land garage 
id punk quartet 
Shannon And The Clams are 
helmed by guitarist Cody 
Blanchard, the other half 
by bassist Shannon Shaw. 
Blanchard's, in the main, 
conjure strange, eerie 
atmospheres filled with 
ghostly spirits like those 
inhabiting the recordings of 
Del Shannon and Joe Meek; 
see Flowers Will Return and In 
The Hills, In The Pines. "I keep 
on running back to you,” he 
laments over the latter's 
woozy fairground organ and 
spare pop. Shaw's power, 
meanwhile, lies in her soulful 
vocal delivery. Do | Wanna Stay 
is defined by her mesmerising 
rasp — touchstones are Etta 
James, Ronnie Spector and 
Amy Winehouse. The album’s 
highpoints, though, happen 
when both voices come 
together, as on the yearning 
girl group ballad, | Need 
You Bad. 


e ipeo dod hi 
-% 


ағар 


Lois Wilson 


The Steoples 


ЖЖЖЖ 
Wide Through The 
Eyes Of No One 


STONES THROW. CD/DL/LP 


Downbeat, curative and 
often brilliant leftfield soul 
from transatlantic duo. 


Yeofi Andoh's 
voice isa 
wonderful 
thing, evoking 
Marvin Gaye at 
his most 
өтетіні Scott Walker at his 
noblest, Berlin-era David 
Bowie at his most tremulous 
and world weary. On The 
Steoples’ second album, 
Andoh's multitracked vocals 
hang suspended, gathering 
weight and resonance, as 
creative partner Gifted & 
Blessed (AKA Los Angeleno 
producer Frankie Reyes) 
assembles tracks of baroque 
chamber soul from treated 
horns, harp glissandos and 
gauzy synthesizers. These are 
introspective songs for the wee 
hours, Andoh investing the 
dreamy, uneasy soundtracks 
with all his blues and anxiety, 
sketching haunting Edward 
Hopper vignettes on the 
sorrowful Lonely Behaviour 
and railing softly at a “whole 
damn world" in Leaning On Me. 
On the meditative The Good 
News, meanwhile, Andoh 
confesses that "in the music | 
can lose it", and this engulfing 
fog of an album invites listen- 
ers to follow his lead. 

Stevie Chick 











Tia Carroll 


ЖЖЖЖ 
You Gotta Have It 


LITTLE VILLAGE. CD/DL 


First-class soul and blues album 
by a skilled and strident singer. 





= 


ALL OF THE above, yes, but what grabs the listener's attention by 
the scruff of its neck is the quality and variety of Tia Carroll's 
material. The serious Black Lives Matter message of Ain't Nobody 
Worryin', the pensive blues Even When I’m Not Alone, two 
warnings to presumptuous men, Our Last Time and Don't Put 
Your Hands On Me - the album begins with this quadruple- 
whammy, and there's much more to come. Producers Kid 
Andersen, who plays most of the guitar, and Jim Pugh 
(keyboards) give the proceedings a bright, brassy sheen, with 
here and there an affectionate flashback to R&B prehistory like 
the chuntering guitar rhythms of Move On or the wailing chorus 
of horns on Never Let Me Go. A hugely satisfying record. 


ALSO RELEASED 


Chris Bergson 


ЖЖЖЖ 
All | Got Left 
2 SHIRTS. CD/DL 


In this untypical 
Ч solo setting Chris 
IM Bergson shows off 
elegant slide guitar 
chops (Laid Up With 
My Bad Leg In Lenox; Cheap 
Guitar), plays a threnody fora 
lost friend (Silver Surfer) and 
offers a calm reading of Dylan's 
Blind Willie McTell. But what 
lingers are lines from lockdown: 
"| want to believe the cavalry's 
coming - but what if this is as 
good as it gets?" 


New Moon Jelly 
Roll Freedom 
Rockers 


ЖЖЖЖ 


ОЕ 
STONY PLAIN. CD/DL 


| Like Volume 1 
(reviewed in MOJO 
3 327) this is drawn 
J from a 2007 session 
| involving Charlie 
Musselwhite, Jim, Luther and 
Cody Dickinson, Alvin 
Youngblood Hart and Jimbo 
Mathus. Jim Dickinson nods to 
Mingus in Oh Lord, Don't Let 
Them Drop That Atomic Bomb 
On Me, while Hart swings from 
Doug Sahm's She's About A 














Mover to a Henry Townsend-like 
Millionaire Blues. Four stars for 
both ambience and achievement. 


Rev. Shawn Amos 


ЖЖЖ 
The Cause Of It АЙ 
PUT TOGETHER MUSIC. CD/DL 


The latest episode 
in the curious career 
of the executive- 
turned-blues singer 
finds Rev. Shawn 
hus plus harmonica and his 
guitarist friend Doctor Roberts, 
stripping down and rebuilding a 
set of songs by Howlin' Wolf, 
Muddy Waters and the like, 
creating a sound so downhome- 
greasy you want to put a bib on 
while listening to it. 


Toby Lee 
ЖЖЖ 


Aquarius 
LEE. CD/DL/LP 


An Oxfordshire 
teenager who tried 
to introduce his 
schoolmates to 

| : Robert Johnson, 
Toby Lee, as well as being a blues 
fan, is on the way to becoming a 
formidable blues guitarist 
capable of ranging from the 
old-time swing of Key To The 
Highway to the heavy lifting of 
Platform 15 and an ingeniously 
light and airy Kansas City. TR 


MOJO 95 





Damon And 
Naomi With 
Kurihara 


A Sky Record 


20 20 20. CD/DL 


For British 
| listeners, it 
== might be faint- 
ly amusing 
that Damon 
Krukowski and 
Naomi Yang, models of East 
Coast indie elegance, should 
be influenced by the Horlicks- 
and-Rich-Tea comforts of the 
Shipping Forecast. A Sky 
Record is, however, all about 
finding escape hatches and 
portals wherever you can in 
a tightly restricted world, and 
the gentle tides of Sailing By 
does Viking and Cromarty 
proud. Recorded with the 
duo's long-time collaborator 
Michio Kurihara of Japanese 
band Ghost, there is some- 
thing quietly moving about 
the vintage sway of The After- 
time, wistfully thinking of "life 
unfolding", or Season Without 
Time's smudgy watercolour 
imagery and splashy cymbals 
evoking loss and dissipation. 
These songs aren't quite the 
blast of fresh air needed after 
months of dreaming about 
new horizons, but as you'd 
expect from Damon And 





> Naomi, they're a beautifully 


= 
= 
= 


curated analogue. 


Victoria Segal 


96 MOJO 





NN 


Indigo De Souza 


Any Shape You Take 


SADDLE CREEK. CD/DL/LP 


Offering dispatches from that 
dangerously intense passage 
of your twenties when simply 
everything seems existential, 
Indigo De Souza's second 
album see-saws between 
manic joy and depressive 
darkness but never loses its 
sense of wit, grace or noise- 
dipped tunefulness. With a 
croon that cracks like Angel 
Olsen's, and magical 
harmonies recalling Girlpool, 
De Souza's clutch of often 
death-obsessed songs peaks 
with closer Kill Me, where she 
begs her lover to kill her 
because, "I wasn't having much 
fun" - a quiet/loud statement 
of intensity both blackly comic 
and subtly moving. In an era 
awash with tuneful indie-rock, 
De Souza's tendency towards 
artful extremism – Bad 
Dream's overload of seasick 
harmonies and Pumpkins-like 
pomp-grunge, Real Pain’s 







i FL Lana 


mid-song breakdown into a 
cacophony of screams and 
howls - lends an inspired edge 
to her addictive pop songs. 
Stevie Chick 


DLL 
Brinsley Schwarz 


Tangled 


FRETSORE. CD/DL/LP 


ТИҢ Best known for 
ЭШ the pub rock 
кү, pioneers who 
ҰНЫ took his name 
i and for stints in 
gee The Rumour 
alongside Graham Parker, 
whose Love Gets You Twisted is 
given a run-out here, Brinsley 
Schwarz has spent much of his 
recent past as a luthier, while 
embarking on a belated solo 
career. Following 20165 Unex- 
pected, Tangled is a gentle, 
sweet-natured strum where 
even the guitar solo on You 
Drive Me To Drink is unassum- 
ing. There’s real loveliness, 
though. Schwarz's yearning 
voice evokes a lifetime of rue, 
and while Game On is surpris- 
ingly lustful for a man enjoying 
his eighth decade, the fragile 
Crazy World is the catchiest of 
a clutch of earworms. Storm In 
The Hills finds him troubled by 
mobile phones and is the 
closest he gets to the chugging 
pub rock of Brinsley Schwarz 
the band, but this is late-life 
renaissance at its most assured. 
John Aizlewood 





Anna Leone 


ме Felt All These Things 


ALL POINTS/HALF-AWAKE. CD/DL/LP 


А PLAINTIVE 

| "I've waited, I've 
© waited, I’ve 
waited for so 
long" kicks off a 
record mired in 
yearning and self- 
doubt, reflected 
in songs of 
intense fragility. 


Leone's acoustic folk blueprint is 
embellished, but carefully: Eno's 
ambient piano and Kate Bush's 
ethereal touch are stated touchstones, 
but you won't necessarily hear them. 
Instead, Leone's vulnerability and 
warm, wavery voice recalls Melanie 
Sakfa, likewise the direct candour of 
Leone's words. Thin strings coat Once, 
in which she confesses *I forgot what 
I used to like about me”; faint hymnal 
voices backdrop Wondering's lament 
^I know you're wondering how I feel 
when I don't speak my truth." Do 
You Ever is the one time the music 
swells up, like tears about to be 

shed, but it's the opposite, as Leone 
finds relief in a repeated *I know 
you'll take back your life", à message 
as much to herself as to the focus 

of her attention. 


Martin Aston 
Grouper 


Shade 
KRANKY. CD/DL/LP 


Thefirst sound 


you hear on 

Е the opening 
| track of Liz 

Harris's new 


album resem- 
bles the static hiss of a vinyl 
run-out groove. Then again, it 
could also be floodwater 
crashing against rock. Therein 
lies the Grouper sweet spot, 
a midpoint between spectral 
analogue noise and the 
intense voice of nature. 
Described by Harris as “an 
album about respite, and the 
coast, poetically and literally”, 
Shade begins within a deep 
well of distortion, the song 
inside like a decayed photo- 
graph of the past. Mostly, 
however, these are simpler 
affairs, just plaintive echoing 
voice and minimalist instru- 
mentation, the occasional 
hoot of an owl, the night-time 
thoughts of a solitary figure 
in retreat. Assembled from 
on-location recordings in 
Mount Tamalpais, Portland 
and Astoria, this aloum feels 
personal, contemplative, yet 
thanks to Harris’s blurred 
vocals, the meaning is never 
fully in focus, like notes sent 
back from the edge of 
a waking dream. 

Andrew Male 


Diana Ross 


heise You 


DECCA/UNIVERSAL. CD/DL/LP/MC 


The last surviv- 
ing member of 
the iconic girl 
group The 

; Supremes, 

м" Ross is а bona- 
fide living legend and one of 
the most decorated singers in 
pop. But rather than rest on 
her laurels, the 77-year-old 
Detroiter has been busy in the 
studio recording Thank You 
with a bevy of A-List producers 
that includes Jack Antonoff 
(Taylor Swift), Troy Miller (Amy 
Winehouse) and Freddy Wex- 
ler (Justin Bieber). The album 
begins brightly with the 
peppy, retro-flavoured title 
song followed by the euphoric 
disco groove If The World Just 
Danced, but swiftly descends 
into unremitting mediocrity. 
Most of the remaining songs 
are anodyne ballads with 
banal lyrics and some, like 
Count On Me and A Time To 
Call, have more schmaltz than 
Barry Manilow. On the plus 
side, Ross is in good voice, but 
as comeback albums go, this is 
an underwhelming affair. 
Charles Waring 





وق صصص е‏ ج 


The Specials 


Protest Songs 
1924-2012 


ISLAND. CD/DL/LP 


Of course, every Specials' song 
feels like a protest song, but 
fuelled by the death of George 
Floyd at the hands of the 
Minneapolis police, Terry Hall, 
Lynval Golding and Horace 
Panter have scoured the globe 
for a dozen finger-pointing 
tunes that retain relevance. 
Results range from the radio- 
friendly but obvious (Get Up, 
Stand Up) to the obscure but 
with not a word out of place: 
The Dixie Jubilee Singers' Ain't 
Gonna Let Nobody Turn Us 
Around and Big Bill Broonzy's 
Black, Brown And White. Hall's 
delivery of the darkest lines 
sparkles on Frank Zappa and 
Leonard Cohen lyrics, while 
Chip Taylor's Fuck All The 
Perfect People could have 
been written for him. And if 
you ever moan that the 
current band doesn't sound 
like Jerry Dammers' group, try 
their take on Talking Heads' 
Listening Wind. Still fighting 
the good fight. 

David Hutcheon 


Alex Lake 


Hamish Hawk 
ЖЖЖЖ 


Heavy Elevator 
ASSAI RECORDINGS. CD/DL/LP 


Edinburgh singer's excellent 
third album. 


Hamish Hawk's 
authoritative 
baritone 
suggests Scott 
Walker with a 
Scots brogue. 
This is bold stuff, with lyrics 
that take in Paul the Apostle, 
the Inner Hebrides and creat- 
ing something that'll “sound 
like Common People sung by 
Christopher Wren". On New 
Rhododendrons, Hawk rhymes 
"Caravaggio" with “mythologi- 
cal Himalayan hollows". The 
words, compositional strength 
and compelling voice add up 
to a something like a British 
Rufus Wainwright. This is 
Hawk's third album, but the 
first under just that binomial. 
He's previously collaborated 
with King Creosote's Kenny 
Anderson, but this is an unan- 
ticipated leap forward. The 
Mauritian Badminton Doubles 
Champion, 1973 is the track 
where Wren sings Pulp. The 
title might've come from pre- 
implosion Morrissey, and many 
of these songs could hold their 
own on a Smiths album. 

Roy Wilkinson 


ШШШ 
The Shadracks 
ЖЖЖЖ 


From Human 


Like Forms 
DAMAGED GOODS. DL/LP 





Delicious dynastic evolution 
from Billy Childish’s 
offspring. 

With his 
second dad- 
helmed long- 
player, 21-year- 
old Huddie 
Hamper here 
emerges as more than just a 
chip off the old block. While 
Billy Childish’s frills-free 
production roots the 
Shadracks trio gloriously in 

his Medway terrain of punk- 
adrenalised mid-’60s beat-pop, 
there’s more going on besides. 
Technically, Huddie is the more 
gifted musician, crooning 
prettily on Barefoot On The 
Pavement and Did You Like It 
Then, and with enough chops 
to progress beyond maximum 
R&B guitar orthodoxy. The 
opening riffs to The Who's 

| Can't Explain and Nobody's 
Scared by Subway Sect merely 
act as a launchpad for Wet 
Cake and You Are Adored's 
own rocketing ascent of 
angst, while, on No Time and 
Pray, quiet-loud dynamics 
blast forth, nodding to 
unsanctioned turn-of-the- 
"905 heroes Pixies and Nirvana. 
With stickswoman Elisa 
Abednego beating an 
increasingly propulsive 

tattoo in tandem with Horrors- 
moonlighting bass recruit 
Rhys Webb, The Shadracks 

are shaping up as millennial 
big-hitters. 


THE SHADRACKS = 
l Шы ^ re | % 1 





Andrew Perry 





Space Afrika 
ЖЖЖЖ 


Honest Labour 
DAIS. CD/DL/LP 


Haunting early hours 
transmissions from 
contemplative Mancunians. 


Manchester duo Joshuas 
Inyang and Reid create 
dreamlike downtempo that 
meshes haunting sound 
design, doleful ambient, 
skeletal dub techno and even 
forays into shoegaze. 
Accompanied, in part, by 

а clutch of rappers, poets 
and soulful vocalists, tracks 
rarely outstay their welcome 
— but each one vies for equal 
attention, each has something 
important to say. On the ice- 
coated LV, skirls of droning 
guitar battle with abrasive 
cello. BEE starts with a scowl, 
strapping the staccato rhymes 
of Salford MC/dancer 
Blackhaine to a sedate Funky 
Drummer break, before 
weeping, sweeping strings 
lead it somewhere very 
different. “...My heart, an 
arrow headed for it, 
predestined to puncture,” 
intones Mancunian poet 
KinseyLloyd on the 


Manic Street 


Preachers 


ЖЖЖЖ 


The Ultra Vivid Lament 


COLUMBIA. CD/DL/LP 


The Welshmen’s 14th studio LP tips 
a hat to Bjorn and Benny - that is, 
when Mark Lanegan isn’t guesting. 


WITH ITS pillow-soft edges, Mr 
Sheen finish and relentless Top Of 
The Pops circa 1983 choruses, first 
impressions of The Ultra Vivid Lament 


somnambulant, head-nodding 
U. It is a fitting summary of an 
intermittently discomfiting 
record, tinged with sadness 
and beautifully composed. 
Stephen Worthy 


Thalia Zedek 
Band 
KKK 


Perfect Vision 
THRILL JOCKEY. CD/D/LP 


Former Live Skull/Come 
frontwoman sings blues 
songs for the apocalypse. 


E. X. Ж. Thalia Zedek's 
; songs are like 
| F storms brew- 
ing off on the 
~ horizon, her 

: æ: æ flavour of blues 
measured, subtle, but heavy 
with portent. Her latest album 
reflects an America coming 
apart, the former Come singer 
penning these tunes in an era 
when simmering social divi- 
sions boiled over into hatred 
and violence. She sings songs 
of dread and disappointment, 
wincing “Our fathers are 
insane/Watch them feeding 
reason to the flames” on 
Cranes, mulling over insoluble 
conflicts on Overblown, and 
sketching out the endgame on 
the apocalyptic Revelation 
Time. Backed by a group who 
commit the loose attack of ’70s 
Stones to altogether bleaker 
material, the result is electric 
and tense, from the paranoid 
waltz of Smoked, to the scyth- 
ing viola that scours the Crazy 
Horse mourn of Binoculars, to 
Zedek's articulate, quietly 







might be that it's MSP's worst- 

ever album. Yet surrender to its 
flocculent rock-lite universe — while 
also turning a blind ear to some 
over-obvious barbs (at *those boys 
from Eton", etc) and existential cris 
de coeur (the Lanegan sung Blank 
Diary Entry) — and within a few 
plays one wonders if it 
is, in fact, among their 
very best. Written 
chiefly on piano, it's 
essentially a particularly 
dark MSP bravely 





FILTER ALBUMS 


searing guitar solos on the 
closing Tolls. Bleak but often 
gripping stuff. 

Stevie Chick 


The Stranglers 


ЖЖЖЖ 
Dark Matters 


COURSEGOOD. CD/DL/LP/MC 


Erstwhile meninblack’s first 
LP in nine years, the last with 
Dave Greenfield, 18th in all. 


Today’s Stran- 
glersWorld is 
much changed 
since 2012's 
Giants: Jet 
Black has finally 
retired, while the death last 
year of Dave Greenfield took 
away another key element. Yet 
the keyboardist had already 
contributed parts to eight of 
these 11 songs, and his band- 
mates found strength in 
adversity to complete what’s 
easily the best Stranglers 
album since their heyday. 
Critically, Dark Matters evokes, 
rather than merely simulates, 
the band’s hallmark quirk and 
strangeness, lending integrity 
to the ongoing endeavour. 
While Water builds lustily 
around JJ Burnel’s signature 
bass clang and Greenfield's 
arpeggios, and The Last Men 
On The Moon reopens their 
questing sci-fi almanac, a fresh 
catalytic energy abounds, 
extraordinarily so on the prog- 
operatic White Stallion. Burnel’s 
reflective chansonnier vocals, 
meanwhile, bring a 69-year- 
old’s wisdom to real life con- 
cerns, very poignantly on the 
Arthur Lee lilt of And If You 











Should See Dave. They've 
done an old Strangler proud. 
Keith Cameron 


Tim Finn & Phil 
Manzanera 
KK 

Caught By The Heart 
EXPRESSION. CD/DL 


Genre-hopping debut 
collaboration. 


Tim Finn and 


Газа Ғана 


M Phil Manzanera 
first met in 
Y Australia in 
' ll 1975 when 
Split Enz 


opened for Roxy Music – a 
time when music was often 
road-tested live before being 
committed to tape. Forty-five 
years later, separated by 
distance, an album that almost 
sounds live has been created 
by email tag. It is at times a 
joyous set of songs with a Latin 
feel. Take the opener, Mambo! 
Salsa! "Music from Cuba, still a 
life force", sings Finn and he's 
right: the wonderful, carni- 
valesque whirl of music is 
perfect. With its ska beat, The 
Cry Of The Earth is the obliga- 
tory eco-concerned song 
(“despite all the warning... the 
oceans are warming") from 
wealthy baby boomers who 
caused the problem in the first 
place - but let's park that, 
because Caught By The Heart, 
despite trying to break out 
into the theme tune of 70s TV 
talent show New Faces, is a 
wonderful ballad. A likeable, 
serotonin-boosting listen. 
David Buckley 


WÎ Manic Street 


ll | Preachers’ rich 
| JI pop harvest. 


attempting to go a bit Abba, failing 
miserably, but in the process 
creating a skewed but alluring new 
pop persona. Highlights are too 
many to list, but the infectious 
Orwellian and The Secret He Had 
Missed (a duet inspired by Gwen 
and Augustus John) truly hit the 


spot, while Still 
Snowing In Sapporo 

is an oven-ready MSP 
anthem of humungous 
dimensions. A hit. 


Pat Gilbert 





MOJO 97 








FILTER ALBUMS 


Shawn Brackbill 


Matthew E White 





Posh Pop 


EDSEL. CD/DL/LP 


Her 11th solo album, 
co-written and co-produced 
by Simon Darlow. 


Toyah and husband Robert 
Fripp’s Sunday Lunch, a huge 
hit on YouTube and home- 
filmed in their swanky modern 
rustic kitchen, were a series of 
fun covers mainly of hard rock 
standards such as Enter 
Sandman, Smells Like Teen 
Spirit and Paranoid. On Posh 
Pop, Toyah essentially keeps 
the same sound, more 
Portland than Pershore, and 
wants to convince us that now 
is the time for uplift and 
action. “I’m а baby boomer/| 
wanna be a millionaire,” 
explodes Toyah on Zoom 
Zoom, possibly the least 
empathetic call to arms ever 
sung, given that said 
demographic are doing quite 
nicely, thank you. The songs 
are well crafted, with Space 
Dance and Levitate particularly 
energised, and guitarist Bobby 
Willcox (presumably Mr Fripp's 
hard-rocking alter ego) throws 
some Red Hot Chili Peppers 
shapes and grunge power 
chords. But those expecting 
something as baffling and 
quirky as those YouTube 
videos may be just ever so 
slightly disappointed by the 
conformity of it all. 

David Buckley 


ЖЖЖЖ 
К Вау 


DOMINO. CD/DL/LP 


First solo album in six years from 


Spacebomb polymath makes up 
for lost time. 


“ANYTHING THAT swings will hit 
you back if you don’t move in time,” 
sings Matthew E White on Genuine 
Hesitation’s disco Sultans 
Of Swing, a warning that 
offers some clue to the 
Virginian’s restless, 
moving-target approach. 
Following Broken Mirror: 
A Selfie Reflection, this 
spring’s collaboration 
with Lonnie Holley, 
White’s third solo album 
has every lever pushed down into 
imaginative overdrive, jamming the 
idea conveyor belts to admirable — if 
exhausting — effect. The centrepiece 


98 MOJO 


David Grubbs & 
Ryley Walker 


KKK 
A Tap On 
The Shoulder 


HUSKY PANTS. CD/DL/LP 


Welcome second outing for 
Chicago guitarists’ “mutual 
admiration society”. 


Whether it’s his formative 
roles in Squirrel Bait, Bastro 
and Gastr del Sol or his more 
recent solo recordings and 
collaborative work with Loren 
Connors and Taku Unami, 
David Grubbs is a guitar 
legend on the Chicago scene, 
and Ryley Walker, as he would 
no doubt admit, is the goofy 
fan. However, on this, the 
duo’s second release 
(following a download-only 
recording for Cafe Oto's 
Takuroku label), he is both 
collaborator and equal. 
Moving from slow, dream-like 
Latin dances of piano and 
guitar (Accepting Most Plans) 
and close-miked acoustic 
plucking (Dorothy Kept) to 
electric-Miles-style space-wah 
warble, before ending on the 
13-minute churning noise 
squall of Uglification, A Tap 
On The Shoulder is an 
instrumental guitar album 
locked in to something 
profound, intimate and 
intense, a sonic city tour that 
begins in picturesque daylight 
and ends in a 4am basement 
on the bad side of town. 
Andrew Male 






















Matthew E White: 
locking into 
imaginative 
overdrive. 





is grand musical 
theatre commentary 

- Only In America/ 
When The Curtains Of The Night 
Are Peeled Back; more digestible 
are Electric's sliced-and-diced 


Kokomo or Judy's pumped-up 





Chvrches 
ЖЖЖ 


Screen Violence 
EMI. CD/DL/LP/MC 


Fourth album, titled after 
the name they almost called 
themselves. 


Perhaps the smartest thing 
about Glasgow’s Chvrches is 
how they manage to be super- 
modern and reverently 
traditional, often within the 
same song. Fourth time 
around, they celebrate their 
decade together by setting 
Lauren Mayberry’s vocals 
— part Elizabeth Fraser, part 
Sugarcubes-era Bjork – 
against cascading banks of 
synthesizers in the manner 
of a more edgy Empire Of 
The Sun, and when Robert 
Smith guests on the strident 
How Not To Drown it's a 
perfect retro storm. Yet the 
opening Asking For A Friend 
has a very 2021 clatter, while 
Violent Delights evokes a 
sugar-free Ellie Goulding. 
Mayberry's lyrics are cutting- 
edge contemporary too. 
Good Girls muses upon 
misogynistic male ex-heroes, 
while He Said She Said 
grapples with everyday 
sexism ("You need to be fed/ 
But keep an eye on your 
waistline"), and such is 
Mayberry's anger that her 
accent becomes more distinct 
as the musical hurricane 
swirls around her. 

John Aizlewood 





Elton John glam. It's almost too 
strenuous in its attempts to top its 
predecessors, 2012's Big Inner and 
2015's Fresh Blood, but once inside 
White's all-enveloping world, there's 
no space to worry too much. 





Various 


ЖЖЖЖ 


Intermission 


GHOST BOX CONTEMPORARY 
CONNECTIONS. CD/LP 
Retro-futurist set from Ghost 
Box regulars and satellite 
artists, in physical formats. 


A label predicated on music that 
explores the “misremembered 
musical history of a parallel 
world”, Jim Jupp’s Ghost Box 
label is hauntological ground 
zero - a place where yesterday's 
modernism serves as a portal 
to fuzzily utopian futures. 
Previously accessible as a digital 
download but now available on 
suitably passé physical formats, 
Intermission comprises 18 brand 
new, if nostalgically freighted 
essays, running the gamut of 
Ghost Box-endorsed styles from 
interlude soundtrack (The 
Advisory Circle's '70s library 
music-aping Airflow, Plone's 
Raymond Scott-like When 
Everyone's Asleep) to 
hypnagogic folk (Sharron Kraus's 
recorder-emblazoned Tell Me 
Why,) via motorik electronica 
(Pye Corner Audio's Modern 
Reels) and ambient reverie (The 
Hardy Tree's Woodberry Vale). 
Everything here is beguilingly, 
knowingly rendered and - the 
sinister public information film 
undertones of Justin Hopper's 
spoken word Recreation Park 
notwithstanding - certainly 
offers a blissfully insouciant 
Intermission from dystopian 
21st century reality. 

David Sheppard 


ваї ma 
v - Т шш EFF! 
^ iain 








Victoria Segal 


lan McNabb 
ЖЖЖЖ 
Utopian 


FAIRFIELD. CD/DL/LP 


Twenty songs on the 20th 
album from former Icicle 
Works leader. 


Never one to 
lose faith in the 
redemptive 
power of 
music, the 
gleefully 
prolific lan McNabb has been 
cranking out solo albums for 28 
years, mostly as a Merseyside 
cottage industry based at 
Nabby Road Studio. There are 
vestiges of Icicle Works’ trade- 
mark Byrdsian gallop, most 
notably on the radio-friendly 
summer anthem You Bring 
Good Things, but his way with 
an irresistible earworm anda 
literate lyric remain firmly intact. 
Over two discs/albums, the rich, 
defiant Utopian casts McNabb as 
a mood-spinner supreme. He's 
rueful on Boy, where he reflects 
upon his inevitable posthumous 
rehabilitation; mischievous 
when he DJs in a "maximum 
security nursing home" on Jivin' 
Miss Daisy ("Ain't you got any 
Howard Keel?") and beautifully 
elegiac on Harry Dean Stanton. 
Is there an artist who's deserved 
more than cult status for so 

long than lan McNabb? It's 

hard to think of one. 

John Aizlewood 


Jad Fair & 
Kramer 


ЖЖЖ 

The History Of Crying 
(Revisited) 

SHIMMY DISC/JOYFUL NOISE. DL/LP 


Two warhorses from the 
post-hardcore US fringes 
reunite. 





This avant-rock 
odd couple 
have somehow 
soldiered 
through to 

; Е the 2020s. In 
2014, Jad Fair reconvened Half 
Japanese to cut six lively albums 
in as many years in his sham- 
bolic, heart-on-sleeve idiom. 
Considerably more bruised, 
Kramer wound up his Shimmy 
Disc record label in 1999 follow- 
ing a lawsuit from ex-Bongwater 
singer Ann Magnuson, then 
worked for magician duo Penn 
& Teller, but two decades on he 
quietly relaunched the off-the- 
wall label in Miami. Here, the 
pair rekindle a partnership 
initiated on 1988's Roll Out The 
Barrel, whose infantilist slant on 
NYC basement noise is switched 
for an unexpectedly hi-tech 
sound palette centred on putt- 
ering drum machines and 
synths, but also incorporating 
steel pans (All | Need Is A Kiss) 
and intermittently zany guitar 
FX from Butthole Surfers' Paul 
Leary. Throughout, this is a 
deeply strange record, on Red 
Red Sun and | Won't Eat ‘Til You 
Come Back To Me reimagining 
Broadway songcraft with all 

the queasy infectiousness of 
primetime Flaming Lips. 
Andrew Perry 


ШАШ ГАЛЕН m OE i | 





Pa 
дә 
4 
а) 
27 





Altin Gün 
ЖЖЖЖ 


Alem 

BANDCAMP. DL 

Turkish psych six-piece fuse 
Anatolian instruments with 
vintage electronica on this 
Bandcamp-only LP. A heady 
blend: from opening volley of 
808 drums (Yali Yali) to Cips Kola 
Kilit’s New Order-y fluidity and a 
trance rework of the trad Badi 
Sabah Olmadan that sounds 
like Jane Weaver, it works. JB 


COLES 


тек 

















Colleen Green 


ЖЖЖЖ 

Соо! 

HARDLY АВТ. CD/DL/LP 

Gordon Raphael-assisted 
second from grunge-schooled 
Los Angeleno. Louche melodies, 
staccato guitar and Go-Go's 
swing and sweetness make a 


great summer indie pop album. 


Knowing nods to Iggy and 
Kraftwerk in Natural Chorus's 
catchy synth riff and chug. JB 





Spencer. 
ЖЖЖЖ 
Аге U Down? 


4AD. CD/DL/LP 


A lovelorn narrative weaves 
through NYC newcomer’s first. 
Indie heartbreakers Lonely As 
| Ever Was, RocStar and Drop 
hybridise soul hooks, hip-hop 
flows and shimmering guitars, 
whose chilled, down-home 
charms remind of Duckworth 
and early dc Basehead. AC 





Tobacco City 
ЖЖЖЖ 
Tobacco City USA 


SCISSOR TAIL. DL/LP 


Extremely mellow cosmic 
country from Chicago 
newcomers. Reference 
points: mildly tripped-out 
Gram'n'Emmylou; Beachwood 
Sparks; Mazzy Star on the 
outstanding Half In The 

Bag. Good vibes, and good 
songs, too. JM 





Pete Aves 


ЖЖЖЖ 
Sweet Are The Uses 


SUPERMOON. CD/LP 


The High Llama’s first album in 
five years sounds like latter-day 
Kevin Rowland in its richly sung, 
idiosyncratic diversity; wistful 
and darkly funny. See Sanity 
Project’s acoustic study of en- 
forced contemplation, or hymns 
to heroes the Allmans, Merle 
Haggard and Neil Innes. JB 





King Krule 
ЖЖЖ 
You Heat Ме Up, 


You Cool Me Down 
XL. CD/DL/LP 

Archy Marshall's live LP for a 
cancelled tour: songs from 
his debut and 2017's The Ooz 
give bright flashes of energy 
amid mumbled, melancholic 
vignettes from Man Alive! 

A set as peculiarly brilliant 
and baffling as his records. JB 





Brian Wilson 


demos 


In the unlikely event you’ve already 
exhausted the riches to be found in 
The Beach Boys’ Feel Flows box set, 
Brian Wilson just dumped a whole 
heap of unreleased tracks onto his 
upgraded website, brianwilson.com. 
Unsteady 1976 piano demos for The 
Beach Boys Love You contain as much 
pathos as genius, but there’s also plenty 
of evidence that Wilson continued to 
make good music well into his solo 
career. Navigate tacky synths and 
occasionally strained vocals on a clutch 
of ’80s finds, then head for the 1995 
sessions where producer Andy Paley 
placed Wilson’s craftsmanship into 
much more sympathetic, Pet Sounds- 
inspired settings. Many of these songs 
— notably the gorgeous Gettin’ In 
Over My Head — eventually surfaced 
in different versions, but the demos 
are definitive. “The only time I ever 
really jumped out of my chair in 30 
years was when I heard Andy [Paley]’s 
stuff," Wilson told me in 795. It 
remains one of myriad Wilson- 
related disappointments that their 
creative partnership was never 


properly fulfilled. JM 





Common 


Kk 


A Beautiful Revolution 
Р 2 


LOMA VISTA. CD/DL/LP 


An improvement оп 2020's 
lightweight Pt 7, the Chicago 
rapper is in galvanising form 
on the standout Afro-funk of 
When We Move, a three-way 
with Black Thought and Seun 
Kuti, and slow-rolling Brittany 
Howard duet Saving Grace. AC 





=o 
| a 


Walt 
McClements 


ЖЖЖЖ 
A Hole In The Fence 


AMERICAN DREAMS. CD/DL/LP 

An ambient drone album for 
accordion? That's the unlikely 
M.O. here, as Hurrah For The 
Riff Raff co-founder 
McClements brings the 
sepulchral gravitas to the 
squeezebox that Kali Malone 
does to the pipe organ. JM 


Brian Wilson: 
in a Pet Sounds- 
inspired setting. 


FILTER ALBUMS EXTRA 


Damu The 
Fudgemunk 
arc. sr 


Conversation Peace 
DEF PRESSE. CD/DL/LP 


Washington DC-based rapper/ 
producer Damu's orchestral 
boom-bap magic with KPM's 
music library - lush yet chilled 
beats with strings, horns, 
pianos and vibes - below fluid 
rhymes of Blu, Raw Poetic, 
Insight and Nitty Scott. AC 





Vasconcelos 
Sentimento 


ЖЖЖ 


Furto 

FAR OUT. CD/DL/LP 

Sample-based electronic jazz 
from Brazil’s one-man jukebox 
Guilherme Esteves, whose Jose 
Mauro-inspired collage scans 
like an edit of Gilles Peterson's 
record collection. Novo Velho's 
flute and clattering percussion 
is Moon River on teacups. JB 


PLAY 





Sam Gendel 
& Sam Wilkes 
ЖЖЖЖ 


Music For Saxofone & 


Bass Guitar More Songs 
LEAVING. DL/LP/MC 

LA duo’s second set of smudged 
and intimate future jazz majors 
on Gendel’s sax figures and 
Wilkes’ bass solos, bish-bashed 
through pedals over Dilla-ish 
beats. Moving and, when it 
peaks, transcendental. AC 





Soccer96 
ЖЖЖЖ 


Dopamine 
MOSHI MOSHI. CD/DL/LP 


London jazz scenesters 
Danalogue and Betamax veer 
from bone-rattling dystopia to 
post-punk disquiet and Sun Ra 
lightness as analogue sounds 
and polyrhythms entwine, 
addressing our use of Al. Nuha 
Ruby Ra and Salami Rose Joe 
Louis deepen the dialogue. AC 





MOJO 99 





FILTER REISSUES 


Michael Putland/Getty, Getty 





Sing the body electric 


seventeen CDs and three Blu-Rays documenting the demonic prog 
visionaries decade of art-rock insanity. Andrew Male is mad for it. 


Van Der Graaf 
Generator 


ЖЖЖЖ 


The Charisma Years 


VAN Р „> 
DER GRAAF 
GENERATOR 


The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other, which 
gleefully shifts from Refugees’ parallel universe 
psych-pop to White Hammer’s ecclesiastic R&B 
invocation of 15th century demonology. That dual 
personality becomes amplified on follow-up H To 
He..., thanks to Banton and Jackson’s need to make 
their instruments sound louder, more unhinged, in 


"кее Cu АМ H MA support of the creeping, white-knuckled world-view 
| | gene eae of their frontman. As on the unearthly, beautiful 
Т skronk еріс Pioneers Over С (a tale of time-warp 


Graaf Generator collectively began to lose their 
minds. Following the release of third studio LP, 
H To He, Who Am The Only One, the group headlined 

a “six bob tickets” UK tour with Charisma 
labelmates Genesis and Lindisfarne, a blatantly 
commercial plan by label boss Tony Stratton Smith 
to flog more of his artists’ records. However, this 
quartet, who’d formed at Manchester University 
towards the end of 1967, had different goals. “We 
wanted more chaos,” frontman Peter Hammill said 
later. “We were not designed for success.” 

Their set-up was undeniably nonconformist, with Hammill’s 
insinuating choirboy vocals and ominous Manichean lyrics fortified 
by the sinister energy force of Hugh Banton’s Hammond E112 
church organ, David Jackson's twin electric saxes and Guy Evans' 
unassailable drumming. However, further battered by a 
pummelling three-week tour of Germany, too much alcohol, 
barely any food, cone-shaped spliffs, and the occasional foray into 
LSD, disorder became their watchword, terror their fifth member. 
It all poured into their new album, Pawn Hearts. 

Listening to Pawn Hearts here, as an original recording, an extra 
CD of outtakes, a new expansive stereo mix, and a mind-altering 
high resolution 5.1 Surround Sound Mix from the 16-track masters, 
that madness is still palpable. From the hysterical despair of album 
opener Lemmings (*We are drawing near to the cliffs... There is 
no escape except to go forward") and the good cop/bad cop 
interrogation of Man-Erg, to absurdist side- 
long nightmare A Plague Of Lighthouse 
Keepers and contemporaneous live favourite 
Squid/Octopus (*Too scared of dying again 
to live"), you are thrown back to the UK of 
the Angry Brigade, postal strikes and Long 
Kesh prison while simultaneously embracing 
the lunatic thinking of Boris Johnson's 
Freedom Day and the contemporary 
avant-rock surrealism of post-VDGG 
contemporaries Squid, Black Midi and Black 
Country, New Road. This is a sound both 
fearful and addictive. There is something 
compellingly strange and beautiful about 
VDGG’s musical sorcery that drives you on, 
like some cursed Lovecraftian grimoire that 
must be devoured. If ever a band was suited 
to the 20-CD box set, it is this one. 

The group’s alchemical power begins in 
the uniqueness of their relative elements. 
Both Hammill and Jackson had been 
choristers, with Jackson also a brilliant 
flautist and saxophonist. Evans had learned 
his chops from his bandleader father Joe; 
Banton had been taught church organ by 
Wakefield Cathedral organist Percy Saunders. 
This mix of the secular and the sacred comes 


through in their first Charisma LP, 1970's 





| T WAS during the summer of 1971 that Van Der 


BACK STORY: 
HAVING 
VISIONS 


e Charisma’s Tony 
Stratton Smith once said 


Van Der Graaf Generator 


summoned a demon 
during the Pawn Hearts 
writing recording 
sessions at his 16th 
century home, Luxford 
House. Yes, it's a joke, 
but listening to Stephen 
Tayler's new stereo and 
5:1 mixes you do feel 
you're not alone, largely 
because he has picked 
out extra vocals, flute 
parts and sax lines that 
haven't been heard 
since the original 
recording. 


100 MOJO 


“In Italy, they 
were met 
with capacity 


audiences, riots 
апа adoration.” 





astronauts returning to Earth as ghosts) this is music 
of tension and release, repression and liberation. 

When VDGG brought their baroque operatics to 
Italy in winter '72 they were adopted as political 
radicals and met with capacity audiences, riots and 
adoration. Something of that itchy insurrection is 
captured on Disc 19, with previously unreleased 
footage of them playing Paris Bataclan and their 
four-song Pop Shop set for Belgian TV. You see a 
group on a cliff-edge, uncertain whether they are 
approaching breakthrough or breakdown. For the 
sake of band and audience alike, a two-year break was imposed. 
Evans, Banton and Jackson played on Hammill's run of solo LPs, 
but it wasn't until January 1975, rehearsing in an old Herefordshire 
rectory, that a new incarnation of VDGG took shape. 

From the opening lyrics of The Undercover Man (“Ав if there 
were a choice but to carry on/Miming the song/And hope that it 
all works out right") there is a knowing wisdom to this reformed 
group, its disparate flying engine parts now working as a chrome- 
plated machine of unknown purpose. Lyrically, Godbluff and its 
spine-chilling twin, Still Life, feel closer to Hammill solo LPs with 
love songs for the apocalypse (Still Life, La Rossa, Childlike Faith 
In Childhood's End). Live, they were vicious, prowling, relentless. 

The febrile proto-punk Live, Rimini 1975 recording and 1976 
John Peel session might already be known to fans, but this box set 
also contains a Paris concert from December ’76 (across two CDs) 
drenched in the “rudely stamp’d” Richard III energy of Hammill’s 
stage presence; one picked up by John Lydon and other mid-"70s 
teenagers hungry for a taste of scorched-earth rock nihilism. 

Now producing and managing themselves, they were working 
with a new confidence. Yet, necessary tension started to get lost 
along the way. Compare the version of Masks on 1976’s World Record 
with that recorded for John Peel in 1976 (both available here) and 
it's hard not to side with the more savage and ragged session. 

Core members began to fall away. First the recently married 
Hugh Banton announced he wanted to leave, then David Jackson. 
Now playing electric guitar, Hammill became the group's sonic 
focus. With founder member Nic Potter back on bass and Graham 
Smith on viola, a stripped back “primitive” version of the band 
took to the road. By the time they went into the studio, cellist 
Charles Dickie had been added and the final studio LP here, The 
Quiet Zone/The Pleasure Dome, is closer to a perfectly decent 
Hammill solo LP lacking some necessary sting. Controversially, the 
group’s swan-song was 1978’s wantonly ugly live-at-the-Marquee 
double LP Vital. Hated at the time by hardcore fans, it now sounds 
incredible; its unrelenting, post-punk fury terrifyingly close to the 
dark ‘pawn’ heart of the original line-up. “It was the sound of a 
band playing for our very survival,” Hammill says in the linernotes. 
“We [had no money] and we were literally falling apart.” 

VDGG reformed in 2005, with their 13th and possibly last 
album released in 2016, and the group will headline the Beautiful 
Days festival on August 22, 2021. The Man-Erg is still strong but 
doubtless everyone involved would agree that the 10-year arc 
documented here remains unique, elemental, and unassailable. 

















* s 7, 
wd ^ SD 


pu 
I Е: әй ir 


q 


pu. 
ite 
Ы" 


я 
a 


E 4^ 
gs 
A g 
8 


ایو د کیہ 
47.4 


д: 


ай В 
жа ғ 
p a % 


La. 


We can wave to each other: 
Van Der Graaf Generator 
make communication, 
1975 (from left) Guy Evans, 
David Jackson, Peter 
Hammill, Hugh Banton. 





Let us spray: Metallica 
enjoying their walk 
on the black side. 






Nothing 


Thirty years on, Hetfield, Ulrich 
(and Hammett!) clear out the 
vaults from their ‘Black Album 
period. By Andrew Perry. 


Metallica 


ЖЖЖЖ 


Metallica (Remastered 
Deluxe Box Set) 


BLACKENED RECORDINGS/WARNERS. C/CD+DVD/LP 


IN THE highfalutin critical conversation, 
Nirvana’s Nevermind ‘won’ 1991-92 in 
mainstream rock, because it initiated 
the breakthrough of alternative culture. 
In commercial terms, however, it was 
actually pipped to the post by another 
dark horse — Metallica’s self-titled fifth 
long-player, which concurrently saw the 
titans of thrash metal streamline their 
sound for FM-radio airplay amid uproar 
from their purist cult fanbase. 

With Metallica pegged just above 
Nevermind as the 16th biggest-selling 
single-artist album ever, James Hettield’s 
crew will now pull further ahead with 
a raft of remasters, including possibly the 
biggest all-time box set for one album — 
a whopping 27 discs. 


Of course, this peerlessly success- 


hungry group have never baulked at letting 


it all hang out, for cash. In 2004’s Some 
Kind Of Monster movie, they famously 
exposed their disagreements during 
‘performance enhancement coaching’, 
and to a similar degree the bonus material 
here lays bare their inner workings at 
a transitional juncture, with three 
full CDs of early-stage demos and 
‘writing in progress’ sessions, before 
you even get to two more 
containing alternate 
mixes and outtakes. 

In amongst a couple of 
hours of press-interview 
audio (a first in such 


packages?), Hetfield reveals 





102 MOJO 


ҮР" 82 a "=. 
Я л" ЧАЙ і 
т пвие qa 1 4 Р 1 LT i | 3 
=й ғ ы | n" і, | I] Д А 
% 4 or г 7 | | 
Ei » Е P. "ali a >| —— | 
T "ins, = А, п n r y ! | 1 
- Lus ۳ P 
= a 1 
Trent k 1 T И E 1 
= ^ ا‎ ' „ч. 
= т 
% | | 
à [ 


else 









Pass. 


remains 


to MOJO's David Fricke how he'd had the 
title for Metallica's flagship tune, Enter 
Sandman, knocking around for years. 
“Everyone hated it,” he guffaws, “but this 
time I finally found something to match 
it up with.” That ingredient emerges on 
‘Kirk’s Riff Tapes IT just as ап 
introductory arpeggio from guitarist Kirk 
Hammett, which then gets turned into a 
song by Hetfield and drummer Lars 
Ulrich across various sessions in July- 
August 1990. Listeners can equally trace 
through the genesis of the other 11 
numbers in forensic detail. 

Ulrich, in his Fricke interview, reveals 
that the album’s other game-changer, 
brooding ballad Nothing Else Matters, 
unusually arrived as a complete verse- 
chorus song from Hetfield, and that 
producer Bob Rock duly encouraged 
the bullish frontman to mine his more 
vulnerable side. 

Certainly, listening back to the full 
album in its meticulous clarity today, 
you're struck by how slow it is, especially 
as contrasted with parts of the live set 
recorded at the USSR’s Tushino Airfield 
in September '91, the month after 
release. This much-bootlegged show 
from “Moss-cow” finds Metallica 
discreetly unveiling their new direction, 
in among the full-throttle '80s-vintage 
carnage of Master Of Puppets, Battery 
and Whiplash. 

By '92-93, they were slaying stadia 
from Sacramento to Mannheim at their 
leisure, busting out eight-minute bass 
solos (included here) and versions of 
Budgie’s Breadfan alike. 

As if this £175 casket of delights was 
not enough to seal Metallica's ongoing 
metal supremacy, a separate quadruple 
tribute album of 53 covers 
of its 12 tracks lands 
simultaneously (see page 92), 
doubtless ensuring 
the band's ecstasy of gold 
from this classic record 
will only intensity. 




















Emmylou Harris 
And The Nash 
Ramblers 


ЖЖЖЖ 
Ramble In Music City: 
The Lost Concert 


NONESUCH. CD/DL/LP 


Unearthed after 30 years, 
her first Nashville show with 
five-man bluegrass band. 


A year anda 
half before At 
The Ryman 
(1992) - their 
famed live- 
in-Nashville 
double album - Emmylou and 
her new band played another 
Music City show, also recorded, 
but left to gather dust on 

a shelf. This Tennessee 
Performing Arts Centre show 
turns out to be as good if not 
better than the Grammy- 
winning Ryman one - and with 
a longer and entirely different 
setlist. The 23 songs include 
churchy traditionals (Green 
Pastures), Outlaw Country 
(Even Cowgirls Get The Blues; 
If | Needed You) and pop and 
folk rock covers (Save The Last 
Dance For Me; The Boxer) 
filtered through spirited, 
road-honed, note-perfect 
bluegrass. There's not a bad 
track here - unless you dislike 
flying-fingered instrumentals 
or prefer to hear Harris's voice 
without a male harmony - 
and a slew of highlights like 
Sweet Dreams, heartbreaking 
Boulder To Birmingham and 
stunning Wayfaring Stranger, 
her voice both fragile and 
powerful. 

Sylvie Simmons 


I HH HH E GN 
Supergrass 


ЖЖЖЖ 
In It For The Money 


BMG. CD/DL/LP 


Greed is good: Britpop trio’s 
second album still pays out. 


It wasn’t obvi- 
ous from 1995's 
debut caper 

I Should Coco 
that Super- 

| grass - Britpop 
urchins living hand-to-spliff in 
the moment - were a band 
built to last. 1997's /n It For The 
Money forced a re-evaluation, 
however, showing a depth and 
allusiveness only hinted at 
previously. The ebullience 
remains in Tonight's “woo- 
hoo!” or the piano knees-up 
chorus of Late In The Day but 
on the psychedelic sunspots 

- Going Out; Sun Hits The 

Sky - what's left of their fag- 
smoking innocence is cashed 
in for darker rock experience. 
Along with live versions 
(including a full-bodied 
Melanie Davis from 1996), 
demos and a knockabout 
snippet of them failing to 
record Sometimes | Make You 
Sad, there are also such top- 
drawer B-sides as We Still Need 
More (Than Anyone Can Give) 
and Don't Be Cruel, the sure 
mark of a band effortlessly 
working in the creative black. 
Victoria Segal 








Tintern Abbey 


ЖЖЖЖ 
Beeside: The 


Complete Recordings 
GRAPEFRUIT. CD 


The full story of the Brit- 
psych legends is finally told. 


X E Tintern 

B Abbey's sole 
* release was the 
‚ November 
1967 single 
| Beeside with 
B-side Vacuum Cleaner. 
Ethereal and etiolated, it 
barely sold. Its inclusion on 
1980's Chocolate Soup For 
Diabetics compilation meant 
belated recognition for its 
genius. Although tracks from 
acetates surfaced later, the 
band remained vaporous. 
Revealing all, this 36-track 
double CD includes 28 
previously unheard tracks. It 
turns out the band was central 
to London’s psychedelic scene 
as they were bankrolled by 
the backer of underground 
newspaper International 
Times. Much of this music is 
amazing: their shelved second 
single, Snowman, is as stellar 
as anything on The Pretty 
Things’ S.F. Sorrow. Let The 
Wind Blow is in the same bag 
as Pink Floyd’s Scream Thy Last 
Scream, while My Prayer is as 
far-out as the Netherlands’ 
Groep 1850. Being so all- 
encompassing could have 
undermined the legend; 
instead, and despite a few 
brushes with pop, this set is 
a mind blower. 
Kieron Tyler 


ШИ 
Boris 


KKKK 
Flood 


THIRD MAN. LP 


Tokyo experimentalists’ epic 
2000 ambient-prog-sludge 
masterpiece. 


v" Taking their 
name from a 
Melvins track, 
Boris had 
proven their 
heavy mettle 
with Absolutego and Amplifier 
Worship, two albums that 
see-sawed between brutal 
feedback and sludgy thrash. 
Their third album, however, 
was a different beast, explor- 
ing gradations of light and 
shade hitherto barely hinted 
at. Across Flood's 70 minutes 
and four movements, medita- 
tive guitars conjure a peaceful 
ambience and ruminative 
solos build gently in volume, 
before a colossal riff surfaces 
midway through the third 
chapter, exalts in its own 
heaviness for five or so min- 
utes, then sinks away again. 
A grand concept perfectly 
executed, Flood's beauty lies in 
the details: the opening guitar 
lines as they slowly edge out 
of sync with each other like a 
Steve Reich tape experiment, 
or the climactic, sulphurous 
waves of amplifier drone and 
shimmering gong like the 
wake left by a leviathan. 
Stevie Chick 


Brian May 


ЖЖЖ 
Back То The Light 


UMC/EMI. CD/DL/LP 


Before badgers and 
Copernicus: May’s solo debut 
remastered and expanded. 


First released in 
1992, the year 
after Freddie 
um Mercury's 
death, Brian 
=i а. May’s solo 
debut was a huge personal 
milestone, the guitarist adapt- 
ing to a frontman role while 
the loss of his father and the 
dissolution of his first marriage 
were also still fresh in his mind. 
Long unavailable in any format 
— and here remastered to epic 
new heights by Bob Ludwig 
— it’s aset of sharp contrasts. 
The Queen-like reach of Too 
Much Love Will Kill You and 
Nothin’ But Blue (the latter was 
written about Freddie and 
coaxed out John Deacon on 
bass) channel a grace and 
sophistication less apparent in 
Love Token and UK Number 6 
single Driven By You, two rather 
leaden candidates for the Alan 
Partridge driving-gloves. Also 
includes live/instrumental- 
versions disc Out Of The Light, 
wherein Brian’s trusty, ever- 
distinctive Red Special rules. 
James McNair 








ЖЖЖЖ 
King of Ska 


TROJAN. LP 


His first 10 singles, with 
foldout poster. 


Rejected by Studio One and 
Treasure Isle, former welder 
Desmond Dekker launched his 
illustrious career at Beverley’s 
Records in 1963, hitting 
instantly with the proverbial 
Honour Your Mother And 
Father. This limited edition box 
set reproduces his first 10 
releases for the label, charting 
Dekker's rise in Jamaica, which 
saw him crowned King of Ska 
a good few years before 
Israelites facilitated his 
international breakthrough. 
Although Get Up Adina was 
popular abroad and It Was Only 
A Dream a local hit, most other 
songs are unfamiliar. Sinners, 
Prepare! is ska gospel, Parents 
and Labour For Learning wield 
proverbs to warn of crime’s 
allure, and Dracula a tale of 
romance gone wrong; equally 
appealing non-Dekker B-sides 
include Don Dummond's 
thrilling R&B instrumental 
Spitfire, Theophilus Beckford's 
foreboding Take Your Time, 
and the lazy ska of Sonny 
Burke's Sleepwalk. 

David Katz 








Desmond Dekker 


Ray Charles 
ЖЖЖЖ 


True Genius 
TANGERINE. CD/DL 


Brother Ray’s post-Atlantic 
journey summed up in 99 
tracks on six CDs. 


Already a major 
star, Ray Charles 

, quit Atlantic 
Records in 1960, 
signed with ABC- 
Paramount, gained 
control of future mastertapes 
and in 1962 took on his own 
label, Tangerine, which would 
release music by other acts as 
well as, later, his own. Shifting 
his focus to LPs, concepts 
could be clunky: Genius Hits 
The Road (place names); 
Dedicated To You (women's 
names); Sweet And Sour Tears 
(weepies); Have A Smile With 
Me (say cheese). Between 
times, already signalled by 
1959's pop-country ballad 
Don't Let The Sun Catch You 
Crying and a romping R&B 
take on Hank Snow's I'm 
Movin' On, his final B-side for 
Atlantic, ABC's two horizon- 
widening volumes of Modern 
Sounds In Country And Western 
Music in 1962-63 hurtled him 
into the mainstream white 
market. Here, across six 

CDs, with nine previously 
unreleased live tracks from 
Stockholm 1972, we also 
revisit his many Beatles covers 
(Long And Winding Road; Yes- 
terday; Eleanor Rigby; Some- 
thing; Let It Be; Imagine), plus 
Randy Newman (Sail Away), 
Stevie Wonder (Living For The 
City) and Kermit (It Ain't Easy 


Petula Clark 


ЖЖЖЖ 
Splendido! 


ACE. CD/DL 


Over two discs, the Italian singles 


1962 to 1970. 


AT ONE point, Petula Clark had more 
success on mainland Europe than in 
the UK and almost gave up singing in 
her native tongue. Then Downtown 
hit. It’s easy to see why foreign 
audiences loved her so much: not only 
was her command of French, German, 
Spanish and Italian excellent, but she 
seemed less encumbered and more 
expressive singing in another 
language; see Ciao Ciao, the Italian 
take on Downtown. Perhaps it’s due 
to overfamiliarity with the original, 
but it’s somehow richer, more 
rewarding in Italian. As is Quelli Che 
Hanno Un Cuore (Anyone Who Had 
A Heart) in a soulful performance to 
rival Dionne’s. Her versions of original 
Italian songs also thrill, such 
as Invece No, which she 
performed at the San Remo Y 
song festival in 1965. Full of 


whirlwind drama, it places 





her in Mina territory. 


Lois Wilson 






Being Green - switched to 
‘black’ for added meaning). 
Geoff Brown 


ШШШ 
Various 


KKK 


Ashford International: 
Gare Du Nord Records 
Compilation Vol. 2 


GARE DU NORD. CD/DL 


Twenty-three track 
compilation marking the 
label’s eighth birthday. 


кәҹ Gare Du Nord 
“se pride them- 
selves on an 

_ open door 

E policy rather 

Ё. than a tradi- 
tional A&R set-up, but many of 
the artists featured here make 
arty, wry, finely wrought music 
that gently pushes boundaries. 
Prime examples are Joss 
Cope's poppy paean to the 
Chinese military strategist, So 
Said Sun Tzu; Keiron Phelan's 
Satellite Hitori (Remix), which 
begins like a parody of Under- 
world's Born Slippy before 
settling into a breezy, urbane 
song with flutes and harps; and 
Those Unfortunates' terrace 
chant Hornsey Automatic FC, 
which manages to be both 
twee and boisterous. This 
selection includes the label's 
'greatest hits' - such as former 
Pink Fairy Twink's beguiling 
2017 single Dreams Turn Into 
Rainbows - rarities, and pre- 
views like Aldous Templeton's 
piano and chamber ensemble 
ballad, Are You Happy?, set for 
2022 release. The standard is 


| 








Perila (dork 





FILTER REISSUES 





by nature variable, but there is 
plenty to snag your attention. 
Mike Barnes 


Orchestre 
Poly-Rythmo 
De Cotonou 
Dahomey 


KKKK 
Le ‘Sato’ 


ACID JAZZ. DL/LP 


Prime voodoo funk, direct 
from the source. 


Originally 
released in 
1974, the fifth 
album in Acid 
Jazz's exem- 
plary Albarika 
Store label reissue programme 
catches ‘Prince’ Mélomé 
Clément's band paying tribute 
to the vodun (the traditional 
spiritual beliefs of their part of 
West Africa) that surrounded 
them as young men: the sato is 
the drum upon which the 
voodoo rhythms are played. 
The four tracks are less frantic 
and complex than much of 
what would come later: My 
Love is clearly a lament (there's 
no obvious reason for the 
English title, it’s sung in Fon), 
but Gnonnou Ho features 

a lacerating guitar solo 
(presumably by Clément). 
Licensed from the band and 
mastered from the original 
tapes, this could turn into а 
shelf-filling campaign: the 
original Poly-Rythmo issued 
around 20 LPs before vocalist 
Vincent Ahéhéhinnou quit in 
1978, but there were more 


“Arrivederci Inglese": | 


Petula Clark, warmly 
welcomed in Europe. 










than 200 45s too. Your bank 
manager will understand. 
David Hutcheon 


UE 
Various 


ЖЖЖ 
Global Sounds 


BOOMERANG. CD/DL/LP 


Eclectic dance label’s multi- 
genre set pulls in broken 
beat, jazzy and electronic. 


~~ Inthe two 

1 years since 
they set out 
their stall with 
the acid-fried 

| funk of A 
Jazzual Experiment, Boomerang 
Records’ embrace of diversity 
has majored on the weird and 
wonderful. Global Sounds 
follows suit, whirligigging with 
some of their key connections, 
be it Afriquoi's lead singer 
André Espeut showing his 
alchemical touch over Foot- 
shooter and Duke Hugh's 
broken beats, K.O.G. (energetic 
leader of Sheffield's Zongo 
Brigade) abandoning his 
comfort zone to ride Burland's 
pulsing electro, or an airy, 
meringue-light vocal turn 
from Bryony Jarman-Pinto. 
Sustained highs arrive with 
London Afrobeat Collective's 
house/talking drums fusion 
Power To The Women and the 
velveteen tones of Cleveland 
Watkiss dropping through 

the octaves as Mark De 
Clive-Lowe's keys surge ever 
upwards on jazzy beat-mon- 
ster Vivid Dreams. Dancing 
may prove unavoidable. 

Andy Cowan 


тағайын iL 











MOJO 103 


Top draw: Super Furry 
Animals (from left) 
Dafydd Ieuan, Cian 
Ciaran, Gruff Rhys, Guto 
Pryce, Huw Bunftord: 





ж” 
Oddity 


Crank calling, tank-driving, 
Paul McCartney-crunching: 
the Welsh Britpop outriders 
weird apogee. By Pat Gilbert. 


Super Furry Animals 


KKKKK 
Rings Around Тһе World 


BMG. CD/DL/LP 


IT’S NOT exactly rock's greatest ‘what if?’ 
but it’s an interesting scenario to chew on 
nonetheless. In summer 2001, having 
recorded Juxtaposed With U, a glitzy, 
American-sounding soul extravaganza, 
ornamented with lush strings and dancing 
electronic bleeps, Super Furry Animals knew 
they had a potentially massive global hit on 
their hands. So why not ask — a prelapsarian 
— Bobby Brown to sing it? And, while you’re 
at it, reach out to East 17’s Brian Harvey too? 
Neither man returned the call, it 
transpired, which in the sleevenotes to this 
expansive 20th anniversary reissue, SFA 
bassist Guto Pryce suggests was due to a 
suspicion “we were taking the piss, which we 


probably were.” Instead, singer Gruff Rhys 


104 MOJO 


2001: A Sp 






ace 


sang his vocals through a 
vocoder, the single stalled 
at Number 14 in the UK 
charts, and perhaps the one 
chance the Furries had to cross over to the 
mainstream and become million-sellers 
evaporated. Which must have come as a huge 
disappointment to Sony, who had rescued the 
group from the debris of Creation Records’ 
crash in 1999, and pumped hundreds of 
grand into facilitating the recordings that 
label supremo Rob Stringer believed would 
deliver the Welsh Britpop outriders the 
international smash they so richly deserved. 

But while Rings Around The World would 
be, relative to its cost (which included a 5.1 
surround-sound mix and accompanying 
DVD), a commercial failure, there can be no 
doubt it was an extraordinary artistic triumph 
— indeed, the zenith in creativity of a sui 
generis group for whom colliding together 
techno, harmony pop, soft rock, folk, country 
and psychedelia seemed an intuitive and 
singular vocation. 

Part-recorded at Bearsville studio at 
the end of a US tour to promote their 
quickfire Welsh-language LP Mwng, Rings... 
would consciously channel the spirit of that 
studio’s celebrated habitué, Todd Rundgren, 
adopting his painstaking and unorthodox 
"Os recording MO to create tracks such 
as Receptacle For The Respectable, a song 













(if it is a song) that shifts 
from breezy sunshine pop 
to The Move to Bacharach- 
style easy listening, only 
to end up in a nightmare 
of grinding white noise 
techno. A sporting Paul 
McCartney even chomps 
on a stick of celery, reprising his cameo on 
The Beach Boys’ Vega-Tables (albeit down 

a phone line). 

Allied to the fascinating musical amalgams 
— Tim Hardin meets jungle on No Sympathy; 
Crosby, Stills & Nash N harmony clusters 
versus crunchy indie rock on Sidewalk Serfer 
Girl; Duane Eddy takes on Amon Düül on 
(Drawing) Rings Around The World — is 
lyrical subject matter that suggests a real-life 
universe demanding an unhinged soundtrack, 
whether it's interns *pleasuring' US 
Presidents, individuals waking from 15-year 
slumbers, insane TV evangelists, or the (near) 
title track with its unappreciated phone calls 
to random people around the globe. 

Rings Around The World was perhaps the 
last hurrah for post-modernist rock, when 
mashing up genres was still fruitful and fun, 
and it was never bettered by its makers. The 
various reissue formats here offer a whopping 
75 unreleased tracks from the sessions — 
albeit mostly remixes and demos, though the 
four ‘proper’ outtakes include a hymnal 
scuzzy funk gem called John Spex and the 
brilliantly bizarre Chihuahua — so you 
certainly won’t need any other music to 
entertain you for a while... 








— aa 
If —— ————— MH 


Dr Robert 
Blackman 


ЖЖЖ 


The Unimaginable 


Dreamworks 
RE:WARM. DL/LP 


Another day in the sun fora 
California therapist’s bizarre 
vanity recordings. 


Dr Robert Blackman worked as 
a chiropractor in San Francisco 
over the 1970s and 1990s. His 
interest in music was first 
evidenced in 1976 with an LP 
on his own Riverwinds imprint. 
The label folded in 1987 after 
two creepy semi-hip-hop 
12-inches credited to King 
Lovsexx. In between, Blackman 
issued a mini album and two 
12-inches. The Unimaginable 
Dreamworks samples these. 
Unsurprisingly, it is strange 
stuff. Blackman’s declamatory 
voice isn't built to carry a tune 
so there are lots of female 
backing vocals. His musings 
- "there are no answers, there 
are no questions" – are framed 
in a stabbing-synth, slap- 
bassing lightweight disco akin 
to a threadbare take on The 
Waitresses. In '84, he promoted 
the Peace Is Alive mini-LP by 
showering San Francisco with 
thousands of leaflets from a 
dope smuggler's plane. The city 
charged him for the clean-up. 
Kieron Tyler 





ЕТТИ Е. 
І 


of Starbucks branches; tracks 
were heard on the TV shows 
Nip/Tuck and Boston Legal, 
and an ad for trousers). Heard 
now, the deft fusion of jazz, 
R&B and light touches of her 
adopted country France’s 
chanson still sounds assured. A 
bonus previously unreleased 
July 2005 live show from 
Spain’s Vitoria-Gasteiz Jazz 
Festival, featuring different 
musicians, energises Careless 
Love’s material by a more sinu- 
ous and spontaneous delivery. 
Kieron Tyler 


Rory Gallagher 


ЖЖЖЖ 
Rory Gallagher: 50th 


Anniversary Edition 
UMC. CD/DL/LP 


Solo debut by Co. Donegal 
guitar great gets five-disc 
box set treatment. 


Having left 
Taste in 1970 
due to mana- 
gerial/intra- 
band tensions, 
| everything 
clicked for Rory Gallagher in 
his new, self-named power 
trio. Led Zeppelin’s Peter Grant 
helped nail a lucrative deal 
with Polydor, Eddie Offord 
engineered while Rory pro- 
duced, and Gallagher's new 
Belfast-raised foils Gerry McA- 
voy (bass) and Wilgar Camp- 
bell (drums) nourished his 
electric/acoustic blues vision 
via a hard-hitting telepathy. A 
typically gutsy “Pop Deux” 
concert filmed for French TV in 
1971 - Gallagher a magus in 
double denim; five choice Rory 
Gallagher tracks premiered a 
month before the LP’s release 
- offers delicious context here, 
while the accompanying hard- 
back book with informative 
essays by McAvoy and RG's 
brother Donal will delight 
aficionados. BBC Radio session 





tions, kicking up the same 
cosmic dust as Mercury Rev 
and the Elephant 6 mob. There 
are concise songs - Sky Bicycle 
is gorgeous; the closing title 
track is both the longest song 
and the best hook - but the 
greatest impression is a manic, 
whooshing energy, like the 
listener is strapped to a dizzily 
looping rollercoaster of sound. 
It's so good, you wonder why 
they never tried again. 

Martin Aston 


Joseph Spence 
ЖЖЖЖ 


Епсоге 


SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS 
RECORDINGS. CD/DL/LP 


Unheard recordings by the 
Bahamian guitar master. 


Born in 1910, 
" the late 

E Bahamian folk 
maverick 
Joseph Spence 
performed 
traditional songs and spirituals 
in a low grunt that resembled 
cartoon character Popeye. His 
guitar inventions were equally 
eccentric: playing the bass 
parts on low strings, melody 
on the high ones, creating 

a simultaneous dialogue 
between both while each 
shifted tempos. This created a 
challenge for the many guitar- 
ists and reverent fans, like Taj 
Mahal, Ry Cooder and Richard 
Thompson, who've all tried to 
duplicate him. Spence has 
often been called "the folk 
guitarist's Thelonious Monk", 
and like Monk, he sang 
solfeggio - melodically groan- 
ing underneath instrumental 
sections. These newly-released 
recordings were mostly taped 
while he was in New York in 


i № 1 
E eT | 


7% 


7 
1 Т 





FILTER REISSUES 


1965 for a concert: some 
recorded at the show, and 
some at producer Peter K 
Siegel's parents’ apartment. 
Beyond Spence’s technical 
magic is the unfettered joy 
that animates every note. 
Michael Simmons 


11111| 
Various 


KK 

Good As Gold: 
Artefacts Of The 
Apple Era (1967-1975) 


GRAPEFRUIT. CD 


Fascinating comp examines 
the outer reaches of the 
grandest Beatles folly. 


Apple might have been a great 
opportunity for too many 
great opportunists, but it was 
also a vibrant creative hub 
comprising record label, pub- 
lishing and studio. These 107 
tracks spread over five discs 
are hit-free beyond Stealer’s 
Wheel’s Stuck In The Middle 
With You (recorded at Apple 
with Leiber & Stoller), but they 
embrace pop, psychedelia, 


OF THE MONTH 


Madeleine 
Peyroux: 
dreaming 
the dreamy. 





novelty and '60s Britpop. 
Surprises abound, be it the 
guitar riff on The Fire’s 
Creation-esque Father’s Name 
Is Dad, which resurfaced to 
underpin Pet Shop Boys’ | 
Didn't Get Where | Am Today, 
and Chris 'Frank Sidebottom' 
Sievey's Watercolour View, 
recorded after he accepted 
demo time in return for 
abandoning his Apple sit-in. 
The Beatles appear in passing: 
there's Grapefruit's Lullaby, the 
sole Lennon/McCartney pro- 
duction; Brute Force's King Of 
Fuh, which tickled George 
Harrison's ribald funny bone; 
and Tony Hazzard's snappy 
song entitled Paul McCartney. 
John Aizlewood 











= 

run 1 

Lr | NEM 
Ж. 








recording sessions 
(including two weeks 
in Memphis with Jim 


Armitage? He’s right. 
Pierce’s lyrics are facile, 


but they work, they 


tracks cement the notion that 
Gallagher brought his all to 
every show (try his take on Otis 
Rush's It Takes Time). 


Spiritualized 
Ladies And 


| j Dickinson), with contain the simplicity of 

| James McNair реу 

| Gentlemen | contributions from nursery rhyme, childlike 
| SOUL We Are Floating Dr. John, the London inspiration salvaged from 

X | АІ Night Radio In Sp ace Community Gospel Choir, beneath the soft weight 


and pedal-steel maestro 
B.J. Cole, LAGWAFIS 
remains sonically 
astonishing, a junkie love 
letter to Southern soul, 
Elvis and The Jordanaires 
caught between painless 


of heavy drugs. Fittingly, 
the vinyl — in reworked 
artwork by Mark Farrow, 
who created the original 
blister pack — now sounds 
enormous and all- 
enveloping in a way that 


= Joe 
5pirit Stereo 


Frequency 
BIG POTATO. DL/LP 


FAT POSSUM. DL/LP 


Back in 1997, this writer 
commissioned now Poet 
Laureate Simon Armitage 
to review some new 


albums for a fledgling 


Madeleine 
Peyroux 


ЖЖЖЖ 


Careless Love | 
(Deluxe Edition) 


CRAFT. CD/LP 


Beachwood Sparks duo’s 
ubilant psych-pop venture. 


" wr In 2007, Los 





Addingnenetaqe 2. men’s magazine. The dope bliss and symphonic it never did in '97. 
interpretation brings a fresh (guitar) and results were surprising. night-sweats chaos. Andrew Male 
slant on a global success. Jimi Hey Praise was showered on 


In the essay accompanying this 
reissue of her 2004 break- 
through second album Careless 
Love, Madeleine Peyroux recalls 
producer Larry Klein: "He 
wanted to make a record that 
would sound like the dream of 
an album.” After her follow-up 
to 19965 Dreamland arrived, 
dreaming went on hold when 
Careless Love become a world- 
wide best seller, helped on its 
way by astute marketing (it 
was displayed on the counter 





ШЫН (drums) imag- 
ined a mystery radio station at 
the far end of the dial, playing 
a mash-up of all their favourite 
stuff. Their attempt to synthe- 
sise the playlist over 10 free- 
wheeling segments partly 
aligned with the Byrds-coun- 
try-psych leanings of their 
band Beachwood Sparks, and 
no surprise that The Beach 
Boys and The Beatles are 
totems here, yet there were 
just as many good '90s vibra- 


the bleak Northern 
optimism of The Verve's 
Urban Hymns, but 

Jason Pierce's lyrics 

for this — a masterpiece, 
surely? — were dismissed 
as naive, derivative, 
almost beneath 
contempt. Assembled 
from a series of US 





MOJO 105 





ТАТЕ Seago 


On a carousel: Johnny 
Cash, in his pomp; 
(insets) hits from the 





UGUSTUS OWSLEY Stanley, 
A sound engineer, inventor, 
psychedelic chemist, jeweller, and 

eater of nothing but meat, was one of the 
more eccentric figures populating the long, 
strange story of the Grateful Dead. He 
developed their unique sound system while 
manufacturing the acid that fuelled the early 
years of their career. Known to them as Bear, 
his tenure with the band was interrupted by 
a spell in jail in 1967 and never quite 
recovered, as those who replaced him were 
reluctant to step down once he was freed. 
Instead, he ran the house sound system at 
the Carousel Ballroom, a venue operated as 
a collective by the Dead and 
several other Bay Area 
bands: Jefferson Airplane, 
Quicksilver Messenger 
Service and Big Brother And 
The Holding Company. 

To fine-tune the sound 
there, and help him gauge 
what the audience was 
experiencing, Owsley 
constantly recorded the 
music passing through the 
building. He called these 





106 MOJO 


Owsley archive. 





advisor 


tapes Bear’s Sonic Journals and amassed 
1,300 of them. Highlights are being regularly 
released by the Owsley Stanley Foundation; 
a non-profit organisation dedicated to 
preserving the archive. So far, they’ve issued 
shows by The Allman Brothers Band, New 
Riders Of The Purple Sage, Commander 
Cody And His Lost Planet Airmen and 
others. The latest brace feature consummate 
showman Johnny Cash recorded days before 
the release of his epochal At Folsom Prison 
and shape-shifting troubadour Tim Buckley, 
captured on two consecutive nights. 
Naturally, the Foundation is keen to 
sell the idea that Owsley was “an 
uncompromising master of live concert 
recording”, although it must be said that his 
balancing methods seem unconventional to 
modern ears. Tim Buckley’s Merry-Go-Round 
At The Carousel June 15-16, 1968 
(OSF) has bass player John Miller loud — 
sometimes distorted — and 
alone in the right-hand 
channel. On the left sits 
Buckley’s voice and 
12-string guitar with David 
Friedman's vibraphone 
behind him, relatively hard 
to discern. Carter Collins’ 
percussion drifts between 
the left and centre field. 
Friedman is slightly more 
audible on the following 
day's set, and Miller less hot 









BERNS ӨМІ JOUAHALS ” 
XS, 


(422. pom case YS 
т; y armas CAROUEE | 


and growly. Some songs have their fronts 
cut off. It's not a hi-fi recording as we'd 
understand it today — the generous sleeve 
notes explain why — but undoubtedly 
characterful, capturing Buckley 
freewheeling out of folk rock towards jazz in 
the more protean style of his hero Fred Neil. 
Indeed, Neil's Merry-Go-Round is quoted 
in the extended Strange Feelin' Suite that 
closes the second show, where Buckley 
expands the as yet unfinished Strange 
Feelin’ with several of his own earlier works 
and things like Leadbelly's In The Pines. 

As with many Buckley recordings it can 

be mesmerising, it can get tedious, but it's 
never less than fascinating to hear where 

he goes on the journey. 

There's a similar mental adjustment 
required while listening to Johnny Cash's 
At The Carousel Ballroom, April 24th, 1968 

(OSF/Renew/BMQG). Cash, instead 
of being centre front, is off to the right while 
the Tennessee Three are all bunched on the 
left. Cash seems to have a tendency to drift 
off-mike occasionally too. 

Perhaps mindful of visiting a hotbed of 
the counterculture, he opens with Cocaine 
Blues, and includes some Dylan tunes and 
socially aware material like chain gang blues 
Going To Memphis. Although he's yet to 
ascend to his lofty place in the pantheon, 
Cash is in his pomp here, sounding like he's 
having a great time with June (singing a 
Carter Family medley while Cash goes off 
“swallering”) and his band, and putting on 
a fine show. Six thousand words of detailed 
notes by Bob Weir, John Carter Cash and 
the album's producers add considerable 
value. One to treasure for Cash fans. 








Courtesy of Owsley Stanley Foundation 


Neil Krug 


Alex Chilton 





Like Ғиса On Sherbert 


Alex Chilton 


KKKK 
Like Flies On Sherbert 


SUNDAZED. LP 


Inaugural solo LP recorded 


over three nights in Memphis. 


Heavy drinking involved. 


On this 1979 solo debut, Alex 
Chilton tore up the rulebook 
he’d written with The Box Tops 
and Big Star and made an 
album that was messy and 
pitted with imperfections. It 
was the album’s producer Jim 
Dickinson who convinced 
Chilton to leave the mistakes 
in, so we hear mikes being 
dropped and tape hiss and 
false starts and chugging 
guitar, played by Dickinson, 
that’s so rudimentary it’s 
endearing, and Chilton fluffing 
lines but sounding like he 
doesn’t give a monkeys. 
“A positive statement about 
a period in my life that wasn’t 
positive,” he described it. The 
album chimed perfectly with 
punk’s DIY ethos and presaged 
indie pop’s shambling, and 
turned songs as disparate as 
KC And The Sunshine Band's 
Boogie Shoes and Jimmy 
Newman's Alligator Man into 
lo-fi outsider anthems. 

Lois Wilson 





pecus 


f 
Karate 


ЖЖЖЖ 
In Place Of Real Insight 


NUMERO GROUP. DL/LP 


Landmark 1997 LP by Boston 
emo-jazz slowcore quartet 
gets a welcome reissue. 


In hindsight, the mid-’90s US 
underground looks like a place 
of musical and emotional 
confusion. Few bands 
captured that sense of stylistic 
chaos better than Boston’s 
Karate. If their self-titled 1996 
debut channelled the lyrical 
anger and emotional 
uncertainty of the DC post- 
hardcore scene as well as the 
urgent metalcore of fellow 
mid-'90s Massachusettsans 
Converge, this follow-up drew 
as much from the Minutemen 
and Sonny Sharrock as it 

did Fugazi or Crazy Horse. 
Graduates of the Berklee 

S. College of Music, the group 
began to open their sound, 
both sonically and stylistically, 


with the twin guitars of 
Eamonn Vitt and singer/ 
guitarist Geoff Farina moving 
freely from proto-math-rock 
with weirdy jazz time 
signatures, to lyrical post-rock 
explorations (The New 
Hangout Condition) and 
exquisitely intricate power- 
pop (New Martini). Farina has 
battled for years to get these 
albums reissued. It's been 
worth the wait. 


Andrew Male 


THE HAWKS: OBVIDUSLY 5 BELIEVERS 








The Hawks 
ЖЖЖ 


Obviously 5 Believers 
SEVENTEEN. CD/LP 


Long lost album by Stephen 
Duffy’s teenage band. 


After quitting Duran Duran 
moments before they became 
"805 pop sensations, Stephen 
Duffy took a trademark left 
turn, joining the remnants of 
Birmingham post-punkers TV 
Eye (including future Jacobite 
Dave Kusworth) for an ill-fated 
career twist that yielded just 
one rare 1980 single (Words Of 
Hope), and now these 10 songs 
captured on cassette from 
1979-81. The wounded power 
of Duffy's best material shines 
through Aztec Moon's lonely 
blues, Jazz Club's English 
wistfulness and the wild-eyed 
shopping adventures of Big 
Store (“I’m going out tonight 
and leaving God alone") - the 
Duran-era song he belatedly 
revived with Nick Rhodes (as 
The Devils) in 2003. While the 
Lilac Time leader has flitted in 
and out of the Zeitgeist ever 
since (co-writing Robbie 
Williams' Intensive Care), these 
resuscitated, not-quite-demo- 
quality live recordings 
underline his craftsmanship 
and cocksure way with a dry, 
melancholic lyric. 

Andy Cowan 





COMING 
NEXT MONTH... 


My Morning Jacket, Efterklang, 
Pip Blom, The The, Pastor T.L. 
Barrett, The War On Drugs, The 
Pop Group, Black Francis, Circuit 
Des Yeux, Roger Taylor, John 
Coltrane, Coldplay, Brandi Carlile 
(below), Black Sabbath and more. 


























The Cinematic 
Orchestra 


KKKK 
Ma Fleur 


NINJA TUNE. LP 


2007 third album on clear vinyl. 
First time on LP for three, urbane 
soul/jazz extra tracks: Flowers, 
Colours and their gorgeous cover 
of Fontella Bass’s song Talking 
About Freedom, featuring her 
own imperious vocal. JB 


Suede | 


ЖЖЖЖ 

Coming Up 

DEMON. CD/DL/LP 

Twenty-five years on, the 
story of how Suede set about 
toughing out the loss of 
guitarist Bernard Butler 

and glam-dunking such gutter/ 
stars vignettes as Trash and 
Beautiful Ones into the pop 
charts. A second disc of 17 
B-sides extends the moment 
with élan, and the euphoria 
still translates. /H 


Various 
ЖЖЖЖ 
[he vim Series vo! 2 


UME. LP 


Second Chris Blackwell-curated 
comp tracking the history of 
Island Records, Vol 2 spans '62-69 
and folk scene finds Nick Drake 
and John Martyn. Rock arrives 
forcefully on side two with Free 
and Traffic, while The Heptones, 
Toots and Jimmy Cliff reaffirm the 
label's core reggae values, ahead 
of Marley's arrival on Vol 3. JB 





itj TID DELLS 


| GuipED BY уос 





Guided By Voices 
ЖЖЖЖ 
Isolation Drills 


TVT/ORCHARD. LP 


GBV's overlooked major label LP 
is home to some Robert Pollard 
greats (Chasing Heather Crazy; 
Glad Girls’ rave-up; introspective 
comedown Sister | Need Wine). 
Now remastered by RP for 20th 
anniversary edition on gatefold 
double vinyl with a fold-out 
sleeve for extra-high kicks. JB 


E COMPLETE ST SLES 


r^ 


Booker Т. 
& The М.С. 


ЖЖЖЖ 


The Complete 
Stax Singles 


REAL GONE MUSIC. LP 

Two sets of funky instrumentals 
from the Memphis label's studio 
band. Vol. 1 (1962-1967) ranges 
from foundational Green Onions 
and Hip-Hug Her to Christmas hits, 
on red vinyl. Vol. 2 (1968-1974) 

- blue vinyl, all breezy - includes 
cricket fan fave, Soul Limbo. JB 


PUNK AND 
DISORDERILY 


“EFF 


іші ares m 





VETE 
KKK 


Punk And Disorderly: 
The Albums 


CAPTAIN OI. CD 


The three original 1981-83 
compilations of UK lumpen-punk 
aggro (plus Vol. 1's anomalous 
inclusion of Dead Kennedys) now 
in a 3-CD box, each with bonus 
tracks. Amid much grunt-level 
rabble-rousery, an abundance of 
rough diamonds from Discharge, 
Action Pact, Vice Squad et al. KC 


ЕХТКА 





Trompe Le Monde 
4AD. LP 


Made on the run from each other, 
the rote material (a Mary Chain 
cover?!) on the last Pixies aloum 
betrayed fatigue after four years’ 
creative frenzy. Yet it still boasts 
canonical greats (Planet Of 
Sound) and quirky treats (Space; 
U-Mass) attacked with vim. Now 
on 30th birthday green vinyl. KC 





Richard Thompson 
ЖЖЖЖ 


Mirror Blue 

REAL GONE MUSIC. LP 

Clear, double vinyl for RT’s 
1994 LP. Hamstrung by Mitchell 
Froom's busy production at 
the time, to ears more used to 
digital compression it now 
sounds quite organic. Strong 
material includes confirmed 
classic, Beeswing; The King Of 
Bohemia and | Can't Wake Up 
To Save My Life (Bob Mould 
was listening). JB 


| 

а - в 
i е тайн 
T “7”. 


Раиі Weller 


ЖЖЖЖ 
Wake Up The Nation 


UMC/ISLAND. LP 


Released digitally last November, 
Weller’s most experimental 
album is afforded more of a 
remix than a remaster for its 10th 
Anniversary Edition, with bass riff 
uplifted on opener Moonshine 
and more guitars and power all 
round on the title track. But: No 
Tears To Cry is still beautiful, 
Trees still crackers. DE 


RATINGS & FORMATS 
Your guide to the month's best musicis now even more definitive with our handy format guide. 
CD COMPACT DISC DL DOWNLOAD ST STREAMING LP VINYL 
MC CASSETTE DVD DIGITAL VERSATILE DISC C IN CINEMAS BR BLU-RAY 


ЖЖЖААТА ЖЖЖЖ ЖЖЖ 


EXCELLENT 


MOJO CLASSIC 


ЖЖ 


GOOD 


DISAPPOINTING 


* x 


BEST AVOIDED DEPLORABLE 


MOJO 107 









dream 


The Sand Band 
All Through The Night 


DELTASONIC, 2011 


B 


Y WINTER 2009, Toxteth-born 
guitarist David McDonnell had already 
played in Richard Ashcroft’s live band 
and deputised for Bill Ryder-Jones in The 
Coral. But now his world had reduced to a set 
of haunting songs, a vintage cassette 8-track 
and a top floor flat with high ceilings and 
wooden floorboards overlooking Sefton Park 
in Liverpool. He called the recording space, 
on Greenbank Drive, ‘The Ether.’ 

“I remember saying, ‘there’s something 
brilliant about this гоот,’” he says today. 
“Like it was on a ley line or something. I kind 
of shut myself away, by choice, and recorded 
mostly at night, when the machinery shuts 
down and the telephone lines are quiet and 
the airwaves are free. You think differently 
in the small hours...” 

All Through The Night, the one album so far 
released as The Sand Band, occupies that same 
rarefied metaphysical hinterland. Hushed, 
acoustic and largely drum-tree, it was created 
from solitude and interior turmoil — spiritual, 
emotional and mental — meeting and finding 
resolution. *I was untethered to anything at 
that time," says McDonnell. *It was like 
building a ship around yourself, to go and do 
something on your own for the first time." 

With influences including Neil Young, 
Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen, Richard Hawley, 
Bert Jansch and Spiritualized's Ladies And 





108 MOJO 


“Music never 


leaves you alone”: 


The Sand Band’s 


David McDonnell. 


Perchance to 


Tracks: Set Me Free 
/ To Be Where You 
Are / Song That 
Sorrow Sings / The 
Secret Chord / Open 





| Your Wings / 

| Interlude / The Gift & 
| The Curse / Someday 
| The Sky / Burn This 

| House / Hourglass / 
| All Through The 

| Night / If This Is 

| Where It Ends / Outro 
| Personnel: David 
| McDonnell (acoustic 
| guitars, effects, 

| electric quitar, 

| organ), Scott 

pd Marmion (acoustic 
б | guitars, electric 


guitar, steel guitar), 
Jay Sharrock, lan 
Skelly (drums), John 
Head (guitar) 
Producers: David 
McDonnell and Scott 
Marmion, mastered 
by Robin Schmidt 
Release: Jan 2011 
Recorded: Тһе 
Ether, Greenbank 
Drive, Liverpool 


| Chart peak: n/a 


Available: 
Heavenly (LP); Pias 


| (digital) 


Gentlemen, We Are Floating In Space, the subtly 
textured, beauteously melodic album draws 
the listener into an oddly spacious world of 
illumination and shadows. It immediately 
strikes a harrowed note with the broken, 
lovelorn Set Me Free, but as McDonnell 
cautions, *There was heartbreak, but that's 
not all there was. Scott | Marmion, ex- of Peel 
faves Ella Guru] was writing it with me, and 


he wasn’t heartbroken.” 


Instead, we find the predicaments of 
existence co-existing with intimations of 
magic, as when genuine birdsong, heard 
outside Greenbank Drive one morning, 
accompanies the Jackson C Frank-esque Song 
That Sorrow Sings (McDonnell also recalls the 
room filling with sunlight and an unusual 


silence while recording it). 
Glimpses of realities beyond 
the familiar continue with 
The Secret Chord’s pursuit 
of unheard music and 
Someday The Sky’s riddles 
of disappearance, while Burn 
This House and The Gift & 
The Curse anticipate and 
ponder retribution. 

“Music is an abstract thing 
and when you're doing it right 
it’s all-encompassing,” says 
McDonnell of the mystery 
process. “It flows through your 
body and you're looking at the 
other people around you, like, 
‘this is incredible.” 

With pedal steel player 
Marmion lending mellifluous, 
off-world country flavours, the 
velvet instrumental title track 
rises high enough to reveal the 
curvature of the Earth. Last 
song If This Is Where It Ends/ 
Outro achieves closure, as the 
calming voice of an anonymous 


American hypnotherapist, 


The Sand Band 








discovered during the early noughties 

boom of online file sharing, persuades the 

listener to give in to sleep (“I am complete- 
ly at ease in mind and body. I am serene 
and tranquil”). For a nocturnal song-suite, 
which suffers tribulation in its long night 
of the soul, it’s a perfect ending. 

With the merest overdubs in a rehearsal 
space in Dale Street — Ian Skelly and Jay 
Sharrock played drums, while guitar was 
added by Shack's John Head to Hourglass 
and the title song — McDonnell finished 
work in summer 2010. “They were just 
demos," he says, *but when I showed it to 
James [Skelly] from The Coral he said, 
‘Do not touch that, that's done." 

With The Sand Band signed to the 
Deltasonic label and a group formed to 
play the songs live, support from the music 
press and radio followed All Through 
Ihe Night's January 2011 release. Yet 
McDonnell, who realised that he did not 
feel the songs suited a full band playing 
them, soon withdrew and joined Noel 
Gallagher's High-Flying Birds. 

“I was scared of showing that much of 
myself," says McDonnell. *It was too raw. 
Then it was, ‘Shit, I’ve got to play the 
songs and be in this mood all the time.’ 

I just felt scared. I kind of ran from it. 
I probably saw joining Noel as an escape, 
but it didn't work out." 

A second Sand Band album was mooted 
in 2012, but apart from a cover of Billie 
Holiday's Don't Explain appearing on 
BandCamp in 2013, all was silence. In time 
McDonnell took an office job working in 
clean energy. There's that saying, when the 
lights go down, leave them down," he says. 
“Га just had an enough of it. I wouldn't 
even insult music by putting stuff out in that 
frame of mind." 

Now, with All Through The Night getting 
a get a 10-year vinyl reissue for Love Record 
Stores Day on September 4, McDonnell is 
planning the band's belated second album, 
Leave Some Light Behind, 
though Marmion, who's 
now a tree surgeon, will 
not be involved. 

"Music never leaves you 
alone," explains McDonnell. 
“Pm just really into it again. 
I've come back to the songs 
and they're just kind of ready 
to go, I’m just adding new 
ones, rearranging... the 
instrumentation is actually a 
little different, not so sparse." 

He remains happy with All 
Ihrough The Night, though, 
and would be happy to play 
the songs live. 

“I’m out of the space I was 
in when I made it,” he says, 
*[but] lots of people have 
travelled through that space. 
They still discover it when they 
need it. There was an honesty 
to it which I don't think Ill 
ever be able to recreate... 

I was definitely looking for 
something, and I found it." 
lan Harrison 





















displays, handbills, 
laminates and п 
WH OSWAX 





RECORD STORE 
DIR RECTORY 
ID Vinyl Eddie 


An Aladdin's Cave of rarities, 
collectables and new vinyl awaits. 























86 Tadcaster Road, York, YO24 1LR 
| www.vinyleddie.co.uk 07975 899839 


a Fish Records 
Classified 
New vinyl and CDs plus pre-loved vinyl. 


Please сай Max Garwood On Wide selection with particular specialism In 


01733 366405 roots and Americana music. 


Unit 2, Crown Courtyard, Crown Street, 
Stone, Staffordshire, ST15 8UY 
| www. fishrecords.co.uk 01785 818847 


@7 The Vinyl Whistle 


A classic indie record shop, with four 
rooms of vinyl in the heart of Headingley 
serving coffee, beer and live music. 




















SUBSCRIBE TODAY FOR FA. -4 | 
СВЕАТ | s 7 12 Otley Road, Headingley, 


IN THE APP E =. = Leeds LS6 2AD 
| سو‎ bh wx | www.vinylwhistle.co.uk 0113 4260588 


Download issues 
in seconds 


P Кэз « 5 Five Rise Records 

"Иа | 4 к МЕР. 2 We are a physical and 

ibid Te online record store, run by music 
lovers for music lovers. 





Read issues | | 3 4 қ | 
across ye 3 sl 30C Park Road, Bingley, 
different Bit Ў b b | кам West Yorkshire, BD16 4/0 

gh mae А gy | www.fiveriserecords.co.uk 01274 512867 


TO ADVERTISE PLEASE CALL 
> Google play MAX ON 01733 366405 





ITEM APES EN eT (o 


= 
О 
> 
v 
< 
m 
24 
=j 
A 
м 
E 
mi 
m 
= 
> 
X 
eC 
> 
^ 
g 
О 
О 
J 
О 
m» 
һы 
یپا‎ 
Lad 
ON 
Or 
A 
О 
Vi 












Diana Ross 


With and after The Supremes, 
Motowns leading lady. By Geoff Brown. 


HE FIRST album Diana Ross sang on, Meet The ЧК. During that first flowering, 
Supremes, was released on December 8, 1962 іп she also gave birth to two daughters 


Ross the boss: 
Diana, the first 
lady of Motown 
and beyond. 


CAST YOUR 
VOTES. e 0 


This month you 
chose your Top 10 
Diana Ross and 
Supremes LPs. Next 
month we want 
your Ethiopian jazz 
Top 10. Send 
selections via 
Twitter, Facebook, 
Instagram or 
e-mail to mojo@ 
bauermedia.co.uk 

























And Touch (Somebody's Hand) and 


Ain't No Mountain High Enough in EE ENS 
the US and Pm Still Waiting in the jazz’ and we'll print 
the best comments. 


the US. Thank You, her first new album in 15 (Rhonda, 1971; Tracee Joy, 1972), filmed 1972 release 
years but her umpteenth release, is reviewed on page Lady Sings The Blues, recorded its OST, and released 
96. By any measure, that’s a long career in the studio. the studio albums Diana Ross, Everything Is Everything 


For most of the '60s she was a major voice (and just and Surrender, started work on a duets album with 
about the most recognised face) at The Sound Of Marvin Gaye plus Blue and To The Baby. When she lost 
Young America as part of the extraordinary roster of out to Liza Minnelli for the Best Actress Oscar at the 


talent Berry Gordy assembled on the Motown, Tamla — '73 Academy Awards, Gordy shelved the last three 
and other labels in Detroit. Launched as a solo artistat projects and focused on recreating Ross the pop star, 
the end of the ’60s, she again seized the opportunities а task that fell to Michael Masser, whose ballad Touch 


Gordy’s ambition created for her. 
The temptation with Diana Ross, 
particularly during her Supremes 
era, is to recommend a 
comprehensive greatest hits 
collection or 45s compilation. As 
such, 2011’s 3-CD Diana Ross & The 
Supremes’ 50th Anniversary: The Singles 
Collection: 1961-1969 is the cream, but 
it’s a Hip-O Select limited edition. 
Her solo era, from 1970, didn’t 
falter, with Number 1s Reach Out 


110 MOJO 





Me In The Morning, co-written with 
ү lyricist Ron Miller, put her back at 
Her solo era, Number 1 (US; UK Number 9). The 


from 1970, к^ name just missed 
didn’t falter.” | 


In common with many great '60s 
pop and soul stars, Ross struggled 
to find an '80s style, and the '90s 
were unforgiving. But on-stage 
she has lately thrived — 2020's 
cancelled Glastonbury would have 
been a triumph. 





ld. ATA 0] 


ine Sti remes 


| Тһе 
Supremes 
The Story Of The 


Supremes 
UMC/MOTOWN, 2008 





You say: “Very full picture of 
the group's rich story" Kathy 
Robertson, via e-mail 


The Supremes have been well 
served in the compilation 
department ever since 1974's 
triple vinyl Anthology (credited 
to Diana Ross & The Supremes 
but full of hits from before 
Ross's name was featured), 
which set a benchmark for 
Motown collections with 35 
tracks from '62-69. 2001's 2-CD 
Anthology has ‘Supremes’, 
‘Diana Ross &...’ and ‘Supreme 
Stylists’ sections, the last 
focusing on cover versions 
(Beatles, Sam Cooke, Rodgers 
& Hart, Disney). Released to tie 
in with a V&A exhibition, The 
Story Of... continues the 
group's career post-Ross on 
the final 14 selections (of 50), 
but as a compilation cuts it: 
Ross-Ballard-Wilson, with HDH, 
making sweet soul-pop music. 


maje неч 2 


р ey, 
ёў > 





La a i | 
The Supremes 
sing Motown 


TAMLA MOTOWN, 1967 





You say: "The label's great- 
est hits sung by the label's 
flagship girl group. Perfect." 
Alice Clark, via e-mail. 


Originally released in the US as 
The Supremes Sing Holland- 
Dozier-Holland but renamed 
Sing Motown in the UK thanks 
to the label's stronger identity. 
By now, The Supremes almost 
always sang HDH and here, at 
their '60s best, Eddie, Lamont 
and Brian shuffle through their 
catalogue to add readings of 
Four Tops hits like l'Il Turn To 
Stone and It's The Same Old 
Song, Martha And The 
Vandellas' Heatwave and The 
Isley Brothers’ | Guess l'Il Always 
Love You, on to recent chart- 
toppers You Keep Me Hangin’ 
On and Love Is Here And Now 
You're Gone. Other titles writ- 
ten for the trio include Love Is 
In Our Hearts and There's No 
Stopping Us Now. Stopping, in 
fact, came next for HDH - a 
dispute with Gordy leading to 
their exit from the label. 


Alamy, Jessica Rinaldi 






THE VER ВЕТ OP 


ROSS 





Diana Ross 
Love & Life 


EMI, 2001 





You say: A one-stop shop. Ms 
Ross with The Supremes, 
duetting and solo.” Pete 
Burgess, mojo4music.com 


A comp that gathers the best 
parts of Ross’s post-Motown 
solo career. After the Chic LP, 
she departed her longtime 
label for Capitol and took to 
producing herself with mixed 
results. Why Do Fools Fall In 
Love (1981), Silk Electric (1982) 
with an Andy Warhol-designed 
sleeve and a track, Muscles, 
written and produced by 
Michael Jackson, a floundering 
Ross (1983), Swept Away (1984) 
with its cover of a Dylan song: 
all were inconsistent at best, 
and Barry Gibb's involvement 
in 1985's Eaten Alive promised 
more than it delivered. 
However, in its 2-CD version, 
Love & Life offers the best of 
that era plus duets with The 
Temptations, Marvin Gaye and 
Lionel Richie, though it dupli- 
cates some solo and Supremes 
tracks on other selections. 


THE SUPREMES 


The Supremes 
Where Did Our 


| ove Go 
MOTOWN, 1964 





You say: "Impossible to lis- 
ten to without getting up to 
dance." Charles Etterlin, 
mojo4music.com 


Only their second album but 
already it feels like a hits 
collection as Brian Holland's 
productions click. The title 
track's footstomps marched to 
the trio's first U5 Number 1 
pop hit, Baby Love and Come 
See About Me were also US 
pop Number 1s, and the album 
featured 1963's When The 
Lovelight Starts Shining 
Through His Eyes, a confident 
romp of blaring horns with 
which Holland-Dozier-Holland 
shoved the group closer to the 
big hits. As one of their earliest 
LPs, the 'filler' often revealed 
the blood, sweat and tears 
invested in their development, 
here in the shape of two 
Smokey Robinson written and 
produced efforts — A Breath 
Taking Guy's lilt; Long Gone 
Lover's bounce. 





Diana Ross 
The Boss 


MOTOWN, 1979 





You say: "An album [with] 
classic tunes such as the title 
track, It’s My House and No 
One Gets The Prize." Steven 
Neville, mojo4music.com 


Strong support from MOJO 
readers for this late-’70s 
disco-era rematch with 
Ashford & Simpson, her most 
reliable go-to producers post- 
Holland-Dozier-Holland. Her 
post-Supremes career had 
started in 1970 with the A&S- 
produced Diana Ross (Reach 
Out And Touch (Somebody's 
Hand), You're All | Need To Get 
By, Ain't No Mountain High 
Enough, Keep An Eye etc), and 
the decade concluded with this 
brasher set on which No One 
Gets The Prize and | Ain't Been 
Licked set side one's assertive 
tone. On the second side the 
mood is more dynamic, from 
dancefloor uplift (Once In The 
Morning) to pop-catchy (It's 
My House), Sparkle's time- 
dated Michael Brecker sax solo 
and closing ballad In The World. 





Diana Ross 


Diana 
MOTOWN, 1980 





You say: “More brilliance 
from Chic with one of their 
greatest singles in Upside 
Down.” Drshaunie, Twitter 


The marriage between Ross 
and the most distinctive and 
stylish producers of the era 
was hugely successful, fraught 
with post-production strife 
and, as a consequence, brief. 
But there is little doubt that 
Bernard Edwards and Nile 
Rodgers got her. Architects of 
the Chic sound, they updated 
Ross with a pop-soul-dance LP 
of variety and personality. Pop 
(My Old Piano; Have Fun 
Again), dance (Upside Down) 
and exuberance (I’m Coming 
Out) dominated conversation, 
but Tenderness, grounded by 
Edwards’ nimble-fingered bass 
work, the quiet thought of 
Friend To Friend and Give Up's 
energy, with Rodgers’ fleeting 
guitar solo, all work. 2003’s 
Deluxe edition had Motown’s 
mix, the mixes Chic submitted, 
plus a CD of Diana: Dance. 





Diana Ross 
Lady Sings The 
Blues OST 


TAMLA MOTOWN, 1972 





You say: "Diana's first movie, 
showcasing fine interpreta- 
tions of Billie Holiday clas- 
sics." Nigel Maggs, via e-mail 


The casting of Ross as Billie 
Holiday in the 1972 biopic 
Lady Sings The Blues raised 
eyebrows at best, caused apo- 
plexy at worst. But her singing 
on the soundtrack turned out 
to be her best OST - as was her 
acting performance. With a 
band of seasoned jazz players 
working on arrangements by 
Oliver Nelson, Benny Golson 
and producer Gil Askey, Ross 
doesn't diligently mimic Lady 
Day but honours the material 
with few vocal histrionics. Fine 
And Mellow is just that, there 
are confident readings of My 
Man, You've Changed, Good 
Morning Heartache, even the 
indelible signatures God Bless 
The Child and Lover Man (Oh 
Where Can You Be?). Blue, an 
LP of jazz standards made at 
this time, was shelved 'til 2006. 


Diana Ross 
I'm Still Waiting 


TAMLA MOTOWN, 1971 





And The 
Supremes 
Love Child 


TAMLA MOTOWN, 1968 


You say: "Title track takes in 
new territory lyrically." Nigel 
Maggs, via e-mail 


In summer '67, Ross's name 
preceded The Supremes on 
the 45 Reflections, signalling 
the solo career that had 
seemed increasingly likely. The 
Reflections LP and the sacking 
of Florence Ballard did nothing 
to dispel the thought. Cindy 
Birdsong joined, LPs of songs 
from Funny Girl and with The 
Temptations sought to broad- 
en their reach, until Love Child, 
the first set of new material 
since HDH quit Motown. Frank 
Wilson, Ashford & Simpson 
and others produced, the title 
track hit Number 1 in the US, 
Some Things You Never Get 
Used To was Top 30, and there 
are sweet versions of Bobby 
Taylor & The Vancouvers' Does 
Your Mama Know About Me and 
Smokey's He's My Sunny Boy. 





You say: "Bought this on the recommendation of Geoff Brown 
in MOJO 319. No regrets: just superb." Steve Temple via e-mail 


First, the confusion. In the US, this album was titled Surrender. In 
the UK, using the same sleeve, it was retitled I’m Still Waiting, the 
London office having decided to open the album with the Deke 
Richards-written/produced new title track, a recent UK Number 1. 
The rest of the album had been produced and (mostly) co-written 
by Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson. If Holland-Dozier-Holland 
were the songwriters who unlocked Ross's pop potential within 
The Supremes, Ashford & Simpson found the key as a solo artist, as 
heard on the US title track, Remember Me, l'Il Settle For You and Did 
You Read The Morning Paper? The only non-A&S song is a gentle 
reinterpretation of Holland-Dozier-Holland's Reach Out I'll Be There, 
arranged by Paul Riser. Elsewhere, there's a muscly I’m A Winner, апа 
a brave run at Didn't You Know (You'd Have To Cry Sometime), brave 
because Gladys Knight had earlier given its definitive performance. 


HOW TO BUY 


DANA ROSS 


Diana Ross 


Diana Ross 
MOTOWN, 1976 





You say: “Love Hangover... 
what a truly great dance 
record." Jack Eyres, 

via e-mail 


Of the several songwriting and 
production teams used on this 
mid-’70s release, three ballad- 
based Michael Masser produc- 
tion/co-writes set the tone. 
Opening with the title song 
from the movie that gave her a 
second starring role, Theme 
From Mahogany (Do You Know 
Where You're Going To) was a 
lot better than its source film: 
After You is a similarly reflec- 
tive ballad. But the standout 
inclusion by some distance is 
Love Hangover, a seven-min- 
ute dancefloor glide that starts 
at a lazy tread, waking and 
stretching until, after two 
minutes 40, Dave Blumberg's 
arrangement kicks the rhythm 
section into overdrive for five 
minutes of groove. Elsewhere, 
there’s the sweet reading of 
Smile, the Charlie Chaplin 
co-write, recorded for Blue. 


DIG THIS 


On DVD, Reflections captures 
The Supremes’ (mostly) US 
TV performances, 1964-69, 
while Ross's famous 1983 
solo show in Central Park, 
New York was finally released 
in 2003 - a small consolation 
for those disappointed by 
the Covid cancellation of her 
Glastonbury bill-topping 
date. The movie Dreamgirls 
famously fictionalises the rise 
of Diana, Mary and Florence 
as well as Motown itself. 
Among many books over the 
years, Ross's 1993 autobiog- 
raphy Secrets Of A Sparrow 
sets out her version, while 
Call Her Miss Ross: The 
Unauthorised Biography, is 
Randy J Taraborrelli's hefty 
tome published in 1989. It's 
been updated; Going Back, 
from 2004, offers a 'scrap- 
book’ of mementoes and the 
late Mary Wilson has written 
Dreamgirls and, for the V&A 
tie-in, Supreme Glamour. 





MOJO 111 


Bad Seed finds heaven in a lump 
of grey in admirably bonkers 
memoir By Victoria Segal. 


Nina Simone’s Gum 
ЖЖЖЖ 
Warren Ellis 


FABER. 


N THE Middle Ages, monks made 
reliquaries out of gold, silver and precious 
stones, richly enamelled to reflect the value 

of the object inside: a holy cloth, a saint’s 

knucklebone, a splinter of the True Cross. The 

most priceless relic in Warren Ellis’s lifelong 

collection of treasures, however, was housed 

for years within a yellow Tower Records bag 

and a plain white towel: a 

piece of gum chewed by Nina 

Simone on-stage at the South 

Bank Centre on July 1, 1999. 

How it came to be in his 

possession, and what the 

object has meant to him since, 

is the starting point for this 

beautiful, strikingly idiosyn- 

cratic book — part memoir, 

part essay, part conceptual 

art project, all testament to 

humans at their strangest 

and best. 


112 MOJO 


"Ee by gum: Warren Ellis, 
keeper of treasures; 
(right, from top) Nick Cave 
with Nina Simone, 1999; 
Ellis’s Dirty Three violin, 
etched by his own hand. 


The story of how Nina Simone demanded 
“some champagne, some cocaine and some 
sausages” before her performance at Nick 
Cave’s 1999 Meltdown Festival has long since 
taken on the patina of legend. In his heartfelt 
introduction to Ellis's book, Cave describes 
how he was summoned to her dressing room 
to ensure he would announce her as *Doctor 
Nina Simone"; there is a wonderful photo- 
graph of him grinning with delight next to her 
while she glowers unimpressed. *She was the 
real deal, the baddest of them all," he says, 

^I knew that I stood within the presence of 
true greatness." 

The show, her last in London before her 
death in 2003, was by all accounts remarkable, 
the ailing Simone transformed as she played, 
the audience left dazed and teary. “As I turned 
to leave,” writes Cave, “Warren was crawling 
towards the stage, looking possessed and 
heading for the Steinway.” It’s comic, this 
moment of gum-harvesting from the top of 
the piano, but it also, fittingly, 
has something of the suppli- 
cant or pilgrim about it. For 
from here, the gum becomes a 
kind of religious relic, 
nervously preserved by Ellis 
through his travels before he 
offers it to Cave for his 
Stranger Than Kindness 
exhibition at Copenhagen’s 
Royal Danish Library in 2020. 
The chewing gum takes on a 
new life of its own, out of 
Ellis's anxious hands, into a 








e 1999 wasa 
significant year for 
Ellis: he "became 
custodian of the 
gum", got married 
and was driven to 
get clean and sober 





by the death of 

safe, onto a spotlit plinth. "dra 
Just what kind of man ИШЕ 
would see such signs and e In 2018, Ellis 
wonders in this disposable “seriously tried 
ара f th to buy" Alice 
ıt of ephemera forms the Coltrane’s ashram 

book’s other fascinating in California, 
narrative thread. Prone to wanting to 


preserve this “holy 


visions and raptures from їз сои" 


childhood, Ellis has been He was thwarted by 
a collector all his life, the asking price. 
TE lead Later, the building 
picking up lead tyre burnt down in the 
weights on his paper 2019 fires. 
round in Ballarat, Victoria, e One of Ellis’s 
other treasures was 


in the "70s. He's a keeper 
of treasure chests and 
“little museums” — card- 
board greengrocer's boxes 


a letter from 
Jonathan Richman 
"telling me how to 
mike up the band 


for the next 
as a child; a Samsonite recording based on 
suitcase called “The The Who concert he 
Executive” when travelling SM 
the drawing of the 
with The Dirty Three or vent ann 


The Bad Seeds. A gifted 
musician from childhood, 
his first instrument, an accordion, was hauled 
from a rubbish dump: “It dawned on me that 
my musical life started from someone’s trash.” 
No wonder he sees significance where others 
might not. 

Yet Ellis also shows how the gum starts to 
draw other people in, too — not just Cave 
(“a beautiful friend”) but those charged 
with looking after the artefact; curators, 
travel companions, the sculptor Hannah 
Upritchard, who he nervously asks to cast the 
gum in case it gets lost. It moves beyond 
relic-hood to become a transmitter of ideas, a 
way of thinking about art, inspiration, music, 
triggering ideas for statues, jewellery, a house. 
It’s allowed this book to exist, too, a beautiful 
little reliquary for Ellis’s ecstatic story. 


microphones.” 











CHAISE 
LONGUE 
| BAXTER 
DURY 






"t 


Ch ise Longue 
ЖЖЖЖ 
Baxter Dury 


CORSAIR. 








Penetrating reflections on 
growing up around his 
Blockhead dad. 


Six albums down, here finally 
is the crucial piece in the 
Baxter Dury jigsaw: his 
unflinching memoir of a 
childhood torpedoed by his 
father’s success with lan Dury 
& The Blockheads. Passed like 
a hot potato between 
separated parents, young 
Baxter is a predictable 
tearaway, who hospitalises 
himself regularly, and urinates 
on Joe Strummer from The 
Clash firebrand’s own roof. 
After his painter mum’s near- 
fatal car accident, he winds up 
at his dad’s Hammersmith flat, 
relegated to the couch (hence 
book title) once an ex-Led 
Zeppelin roadie known as 
The Sulphate Strangler moves 
in as his surrogate carer. Amid 
the rolling succession of 
nutcases and capers, Dury Sr 
looms large, a “pot-soaked 
Fagin” equally prone to 
control-freakery and tears, 
crushed by his own attention- 
seeking ambitions, but 
affectionately remembered 
with mature perspective. 
Fittingly chaotic and non- 
linear, but razor sharp and 
side-splitting throughout, 
Chaise Longue is one rock 
autobiography not to miss – 
a Withnail & I-style cult 
classic in waiting. 

Andrew Perry 


God Is In The 
Radio: Unbridled 
Enthusiasms 
1980-2020 
KKKK 


Barney Hoskyns 
OMNIBUS. 


Veteran music writer’s 50 
greatest hits. Most genres 
covered. 


It’s a simple, albeit 
peculiarly sub- 
titled, notion. 
Twenty-five 





| reviews, followed 
by 25 longer features, from a 
1984 NME piece on a weary 
Bobby Womack to an elegiac 
2018 Amy Winehouse tribute 
for Charles Moriarty's Back To 
Amy compendium. Hoskyns 


isn't a writer for the shorter 
haul and so daft claims that 
lan Curtis's voice was "Mark E 
Smith meets Stan Ridgway" 
or that Rufus Wainwright has 
"10 times" the talent of Elton 
John pass by unjustified. The 
longer essays, though, are an 
unadulterated joy, whether 
he's re-telling the dark Judee 
Sill and Sly Stone sagas, 
re-evaluating Luther Vandross 
(who confesses "sometimes 
| get so, so, so, so fuckin' 
depressed") or Up Up & 
Away writer Jimmy Webb 
reminiscing about walking into 
a Joni Mitchell session and folk 
singer Eric Andersen hollering 
"it's Mr Balloons". For all 
his enthusiasm, Hoskyns' 
knowledge is deep and his 
curiosity insatiable. He asks 
the tougher questions too, 
whether it's Polly Harvey's 
relationship to drugs ("she 
politely slams the door in my 
face") or if Randy Newman 
might stop the "fabulously 
paid hackwork" of film 
soundtracks and "make 
another poor-selling Randy 
Newman album". To precis a 
lengthy, but fascinating 
answer: no. 

John Aizlewood 





Blues: The Rise 
And Reign Of 
B.B. King 
KKK 

Daniel De Vise 


ATLANTIC MONTHLY PRESS. 


The seventh biography of 
B.B. King - and perhaps 
the last? 


King Of The Blues does not 
outdo its forerunners in every 
respect, but it tracks B.B. King’s 
multifarious career with such 
efficiency and clarity that 
surely little of biographical 
significance remains to be 
said. It supplements Charles 
Sawyer's first biography by 
investigating King’s early life in 
rural Mississippi and Memphis, 
and strikes an independent 
path away from the official 
account composed by David 
Ritz. Respect for his subject 
does not prevent De Vise from 
being candid about King’s 
womanising and gambling, 

or the disappointing concerts 
of his later years (“less Live At 
The Regal and more Prairie 
Home Companion”). Musically 
curious readers may 
sometimes fret at sketchy or 
impressionistic descriptions 

of King’s guitar playing, and 
eyebrows will twitch at 


phrases like “slide master 

John Lee Hooker”, but 

the evaluations of King’s 

recordings are comprehensive 

and almost always judicious. 
Tony Russell 


Talking To Myself 


ЖЖЖЖ 
Chris Jagger 


Younger Jagger sibling’s 
freewheeling memoir. 


Musician Chris 

| Jagger's 

i.» autobiography 

= includes a recipe 
for butter beans: 
"Fry up lots of 
garlic... and | 
mean lots.” This comes in 
between gossipy recollections 
of the Jagger family’s post-war 
holidays, life on the fringes of 
The Rolling Stones, a bit part 
in “risqué romp” The Stud, and 
contemporary diary entries in 
which he frets about his lack 
of money; a harsh contrast to 
his older sibling’s fame and 
fortune. The junior Jagger 
knows what readers want, 
though: stories about Mick, 
albeit in between recipes and 
an overly-long entry about the 
late-'60s hippy trail. It’s good 
fun, if a bit messy, and there’s a 
light touch and plenty of self- 
awareness. After Chris appears 
on American Bandstand in 
1974, John Lennon discusses 
his predicament in print. “The 
interviewer suggested | could 
change my name,” Jagger 
writes. “But John countered 
with, ‘Ah, then they might not 
have asked him on in the first 
place." Sad, but true. 

Mark Blake 





Razor sharp and 
side-splitting: 
Baxter Dury, mature 
survivor of chaos. 





Sinatra And Me: 
In The Wee 
Small Hours 


ЖЖЖ 


Топу Oppedisano And 


Mary Jane Ross 
SCRIBNER. 
Entertaining insider account 


Ever since gossip 
columnist Earl 
| Wilson wrote a 
"3 book called 
Sinatra – The 

p Unauthorised 

„ Biography (1976), 
the stack of volumes about 
Hoboken's most famous son 
has grown year by year. Kitty 
Kelley's warts-and-all magnum 
opus His Way (1986) left some 
commentators fearing for the 
author's safety, but Sinatra 
And Me is another kind of 
book altogether - personal 
and compassionate, written by 
someone who grew close to 
Frank over three decades and 
was a pallbearer at the funeral. 
Tony Oppedisano, a young jazz 
musician and singer, first met 
Sinatra at his regular New York 
City hangout, Jilly's on West 
52nd Street, in 1972, eventually 
becoming his road manager 
and general assistant. Despite 
the parade of famous names 
from Luciano Pavarotti to 
Madonna passing through the 
narrative, what illuminates 
this balanced and myth- 
debunking book are the 
private insights, late-night 
anecdotes, and the musical 
connection they shared, 
underpinned by Oppedisano's 
deep appreciation of Sinatra's 
awesome talent. 
Max Décharné 


AND ME 


iM THE WEE 


Who Killed Cock 
Robin? British 
Folk Songs Of 
Crime And 
Punishment 
ЖЖЖЖ 

Stephen Sedley & 
Martin Carthy 


REAKTION/EFDSS. 


High Court judge and top 
folk singer provide context 
to lurid tradition. 


The folk tradition 


ONO . 

ала, {5 famously awash 
п with songs of 
"gh 9 


despicable deeds 
and this pleasingly 
non-academic 
== anthology 
engages with some of the 
goriest and most brutal tales 
of homicide, incest, piracy, 
infanticide, thievery, poaching 
and miscarriages of justice 
among them. Yet it’s far more 
than that. Carthy and Sedley 
- who in 1967 compiled The 
Seeds Of Love anthology 
before a glittering legal career 
consumed him - offer insights 
into the background of these 
infamous ballads, the mores 
and social conditions which 
provoked them, the shifting 
laws of the times and, crucially, 
the characters and attitudes of 
the old singers who preserved 
them. Many classics feature, 
from Little Musgrave and Polly 
Vaughan to Sheath And Knife, 
Lizzie Wan and one of Carthy’s 
crowning glories, The Famous 
Flower Of Serving Men. The 
great achievement of Sedley 
and Carthy is to give them 
alla proper setting and 
renewed relevance. 


«Robin? 


[EL сай бы 
wil Geer іні See 


Colin Irwin 





REAL GONE 





“Тһе heart of Texas: 
Dusty Hill, leading 
ZZ Top from the 
bottom, 1980. 


Adios, Hombre 


ZZ lops bassist Dusty Hill 


left us on July 27. 


J n 


bottom to the Тор,” his bandmates Billy 

Gibbons and Frank Beard said in tribute. 
With his deceptively simple-sounding, 

mostly roots and fifths bass, Hill was ZZ Top's 


finger-style superglue, an able 
back-up singer, and lead 
vocalist on Tush, the classic 
1975 blues shuffle they wrote 
in 10 minutes. For all ZZ's 
carefully cultivated mystique, 
Hill was unmistakable too. 
The beards, the sunglasses; 
the elaborately patterned 
Nudie suits and furry guitars 
spinning like clowns' bow 
ties: right until the end, Hill 


114 MOJO 


USTY HILL's epic 52-year tenure with 
D ZZ Top ended only shortly before he 

died. Having missed a July 23 show in 
New Lenox, Illinois due to a hip complaint, 
he would pass just four days later in his 
sleep, aged 72. "We will miss your steadfast 
presence, your good nature and enduring 
commitment to providing that monumental 










: 7/4) M LL ай! „| 8, ! 
Ww үз ЛЕЯ ЧУ ТЩ 
d. 1 7, тд іт A 
IE А 
д m в E 
. - Ya 
г | MN 


MX 


Р, 


“That 
monumental 
bottom to 
the ‘Top’.” 
BILLY GIBBONS 


AND FRANK 
BEARD 


6 ТАҒА, 
p 
uu = 


revelled in his and Gibbons’ 
absurdist symmetry. 

Born Joseph Michael Hill in 

Dallas, Texas on May 19, 1949, Dusty ишш 
studied cello at high school. While 
Gibbons played in psych-blues 
band Moving Sidewalks, Hill and ZZ Hell Raisers. 
Top’s future drummer Frank Beard 
were in garage-psych act American Blues. 
By 1970, Hill had joined Gibbons and Beard in 
ZZ Top. Landmark albums such as 1973's Tres 
Hombres and 1975's live outing Fandango! 
helped define their earthy Tex-Mex twist on 
Southern boogie and classic blues forms. 

After 1976-77's Worldwide Texas Tour, 





The Album: 
Tres Hombres 


gnarly blues, 


an epic jaunt which saw 
them perform alongside 
rattlesnakes, buzzards and 
a buffalo, Beard suffered 
drug burn-out and Gibbons 
absconded.Hill, always 
more pragmatic, got 

a job at Dallas/Fort Worth 
airport and waited. ZZ Top 
soon signed to Warners and 
re-invented themselves as 
unlikely MTV darlings circa 


THE LEGACY 


defined by their 
breakthrough single 7. | 
La Grange, a John three ugly guys,” ribbed director 


Lee Hooker-like Tim Newman) was presumably 


brothel. Elsewhere, 
Hill sings co-lead | 
on Beer Drinkers & embracing of synth bass. 


1983's Eliminator and 1985's 


(London, 1973) Afterburner. The playful cars-and- 
The Sound: Potent, girls aesthetic of videos for Gimme 


45 All Your Lovin’ and others (“I’ve 
got three pretty girls to match you 


1960 some consolation for Hill, then 
somewhat displaced by ZZ's 


His worth to the band - both live 
and in the studio - had long since 

been re-established by the time of 2003's fine, 
Tejano music-influenced Mescalero, while 
Banger Films’ 2020 ZZ Top documentary That 
Little Ol’ Band From Texas, secured Hill's part 
in the trio's legacy. Though the ride hadn't 
always been smooth - “I joke that we've 
stayed together because we got separate 
tour buses early on,” he recalled - intra-band 
relations were cordial at the time of his 
passing, the bassist insisting that the band's 
long-term guitar tech Elwood Francis should 
replace him, thus securing ZZ's future. 

Hillis expected to make a posthumous 
appearance on ZZ Top's 16th studio album. 
When he died at his home in Houston, fellow 
bassist Flea mourned "a true rocker who laid it 
down deep and real", while Kiss's Paul Stanley 
recalled "an icon and a gentleman." 

James McNair 





Pa 
i 
4 
а) 
27 


Ray Stevenson, Daniel Miller, Getty (2) 


Biz Markie 


Hip-hop clown prince 


Biz Markie was a true one-off. An 
inveterate high school prankster, 
the Long Island-raised Marcel Theo 
Hall was an instinctive beatboxer 
and playful rhymer whose pinpoint 
rhythmic mimicry for Roxanne 
Shante on 1986 rap hit Def Fresh 
Crew brought him into the ambit 
of New York’s all-powerful Juice 
Crew collective. 

The crew’s jester, 1988’s Marley 
Marl-produced debut Goin’ Off 
marked him as an endearing 
eccentric whose idiosyncratic style 
took in goofy humour (Pickin’ 
Boogers), cautionary tales (Vapors), 
gold standard party bangers 
(Nobody Beats The Biz) and an 
infallible skills showcase (Make The 
Music With Your Mouth, Biz). While 
Top 10 fame arrived with the 
stymied romance of 1989's 
deliberately off-key Just A Friend 
— complete with its video's slapstick 
Mozart impersonation in a 
powdered wig - his sample-heavy 
style was put in jeopardy after a 
landmark lawsuit from Gilbert 
O'Sullivan (for using a 20-second 
burst from Alone Again (Naturally)) 
was upheld by a federal judge. 
Ordered to pay a hefty $250,000 in 
damages, the verdict transformed 
the rules of hip-hop production 
overnight. And while 1993's All 
Samples Cleared! mocked the 
ruling by basing half its tracks on 























renditions of Allen Toussaint's Get 
Out Of My Life, Woman, the lawsuit 
effectively stalled Markie's 
recording career. 

Bar a scattershot 2003 
comeback (Weekend Warrior), 
Markie traded off his legacy 
thereafter - voicing cartoons 
(SpongeBob SquarePants, 
Adventure Time), making film 
cameos (Meteor Man, Men In 
Black Il) and starring in TV shows 
(In Living Color, Wild 'N Out). He 
lost more weight than any other 
contestant when he triumphed 
on 2005's Celebrity Fit Club, but it 
was a small win in a pitched battle 
against type 2 diabetes. He was 
also warm-up DJ for the Beastie 
Boys and collaborated with them 
ona loopy, garbled version of Elton 
John's Bennie And The Jets in 1999. 
In whatever capacity he was in, The 
Biz never failed to rock a crowd. 

Andy Cowan 


John 


Hutchinson 


Guitarist, Bowie 
collaborator 


Known as 'Hutch', Scarborough- 
born John Hutchinson played 
guitar in '60s Yorkshire rock'n'roll 
bands The Tennesseans and The 
Dave Kirby Five, opening for Little 
Richard and Gene Vincent. In '66, 

he joined David Bowie's then-band 
The Buzz, before the two peeled off 





EC 




















Give me a Buzz: the 
young David Bowie 
and (right) Johnny 
Hutchinson. 


and together with Bowie’s 
girlfriend Hermione Farthingale 
formed short-lived acoustic trio 
Feathers. Hutch and Bowie's 
spirited, shared vocal demo 
recordings of Space Oddity and 
various other tracks were released 
in 2019. Post-fame, Bowie didn't 
forget Hutch and pulled him into 
The Spiders From Mars to perform 
his 12-string acoustic guitar parts 
- while he focused on the theatrics 
- on the 1973 Ziggy Stardust tour 
of the States, Japan and the UK. 
Hutchinson later worked in the 
oil industry but continued to 
sing and play with his swing 
troupe, The Sultans Of Thwing. 
He published a memoir, Bowie 
& Hutch, in 2014. 

Tom Doyle 


Ken Thomas 
Multi-skilled producer 


Ken Thomas was 
arare breed of 
record producer, 
effortlessly 
transitioning from 
rockto punk, 


| й D / post-punk, 
р> Ж industrial and 


electronica. He started out as a PA 
engineer; commissions for the BBC 
saw him arrive at cricket matches in 
a van with valve Vortexion amps 
and a pair of horns on top. Starting 
again at the legendary Trident 
Studios, he assisted on Queen's 
early albums and later work with 
Gentle Giant, Wire, Judas Priest and 





a B 






“Не had a big 
part in creating 


our sound.” 


SIGUR RÓS ОМ 
KEN THOMAS 






































Rush revealed his adaptability. 
"| went more esoteric after that,” 
Thomas said, producing Public 
Image Ltd, Clock DVA, Au Pairs, 
Psychic TV and Einstürzende 
Neubauten. More recently, he 
produced Sigur Ros’s breakthrough 
album Ageetis byrjun and two 
subsequent records. “Ken had a 
very big part in creating our 
sound,” read a band statement, 
adding, “He was the kindest, 
funniest, loving person, yet 
beautifully sceptic and sarcastic.” 
Martin Aston 


Jerry Granelli 


Charlie Brown’s drummer 


A jazz drummer 
and educator 
renowned for his 
E rhythmic subtlety 
Е and soft brush- 

- work, Jerry Granelli 
IAE is best remem- 

" "P.H. bered for his work 
in pianist Vince Guaraldi’s trio on 

A Charlie Brown Christmas, the 
celebrated 1965 soundtrack aloum 
to the first movie based on Charles 
M Schulz’s Peanuts cartoon 
(though the album went triple 
platinum, Granelli was only paid 
$120 for his contribution). Bornin 
San Francisco, Granelli began 
playing violin before a passion for 
jazz - and the dynamic stick work 
of Gene Krupa - ignited his love 
affair with the drums. Although 
jazz was his speciality, he was a 
versatile player who worked with 

a wide range of artists; from Jon 
Hendricks and Mose Allison to Sly 
Stone and the Grateful Dead. He 
also recorded solo and collabora- 
tively, and from 2013, toured 

with his Tales Of A Charlie Brown 
Christmas show. He died after a fall 
at his home in Halifax, Nova Scotia, 
where he had lived since becoming 
a Canadian citizen in 1999, just a 
few days after hosting a workshop 
atthe Halifax Jazz Festival. 

Charles Waring 








MOJO 115 











HEN RICKIE Lee Jones first met 
Chuck E. Weiss and Tom Waits, 
the two men were inseparable. 


"| could not tell them apart,” she wrote in an 
odeto the former. Authentic hipsters, the 
three became the gritty enfant terribles of Los 
Angeles. Eventually Weiss's biggest fame 
came after Jones wrote 1979's Chuck E.’s In 
Love, a swinging, somewhat fictionalised tale 
that became her first and biggest hit, winding 
up at Number 4 on the US pop charts. 

Born on March 18, 1945 to Denver 
record-store owners, a 
connoisseur's love of black 
music led him to drum on tour 
with Lightnin' Hopkins and 
play behind Muddy Waters 
and Howlin' Wolf. Moving to 
LA, heformed a band: Chuck 
E. Weiss And The Goddamn 
Liars. They cooked up a 
grits'n'gravy feast of honking 
tenor sax rhythm & blues with 
dollops of cool jazz, Tex-Mex 
and Hollywood backlot 






ш һы “ 
кР РК ЛЕКЕТ 


LIT 


Old New Songs 


exotica behind Weiss's growled lyrics that 
blended the Beats, Bukowski, film noir and 
nursery rhymes. At times it seemed as if he 
was speaking in tongues. 

A 1980s Monday night residency at Sunset 
Strip club The Central culminated in Weiss 
and pals (including Johnny Depp) buying the 
joint and renaming it The Viper Room. The 
watering hole for the young, famous and 
self-destructive gained notoriety when River 
Phoenix OD'd there. Weiss found sobriety 
and mentored others seeking the same. 

He released a series of albums, all perfect 
party records of funky, danceable rock'n'roll. 
The last was 2014's Red Beans And Weiss: 

self-produced with help 

from Waits, Depp and late 

drummer Don Heffington, 

it’s a celebration of life’s rough 

side, the milieu Weiss made 

home with all his golden 

heart. “Chuck E. loved music, 

pastrami and cats,” says pal 

Kinky Friedman. The two 

had recently finished what 

is probably Weiss's last song: 

See You Down The Highway. 
Michael Simmons 


From Howl to 
growl: Chuck E. 
Weiss, waiting 
down the highway. 


Peter Rehberg 


Peter Rehberg cut an 
unpretentious figure in the 
sometimes-abstruse realm 
of experimental electronica. 
The Hertfordshire-raised 

| son of an Austrian father, 
he settled in Vienna and, 
ed ' as Pita, began releasing his 
intricately textured music on local imprint 
Mego in the mid-'90s. Taking the label's 
reins after a 2005 relaunch as Editions 
Mego, Rehberg would oversee revered 
albums by the likes of Fennesz, Jim 
O'Rourke and Oren Ambarchi, and abetted 
by Franco-Swiss composer Francois J 
Bonnet, also exhumed key works by 1950s 
French electro-acoustic laboratory Groupe 
De Recherches Musicales. Rehberg 
remained creatively active, not least as KTL 
alongside Sunn O)))'s Stephen O'Malley, 
and as one third of Mego ‘supergroup’ 
Fenn O'Berg. He passed away after 
suffering a heart attack. “He was one of the 
most kind, loyal and reliable people | have 
ever known”, wrote Bonnet in a tribute. 

"| owe him so much. So do many of us." 
David Sheppard 





ғ. 











Paul Borg, Getty, Alamy, Shutterstock 





Bob Sargeant 


Bob Sargeant was 
ubiquitous in late 
'70s/early 805 post 
punk and new 
wave, producing 
classic debuts, and 
more, by The Fall, 

ч The Beat and The 
Monochrome Set. At the same time, 
he oversaw John Peel sessions with 
Motorhead, Gang Of Four, Joy 
Division, Madness and others, and 
provided the unifying thread 
between Haircut 100, The Damned 
and The Woodentops. From 
Tyneside, his career began in 1966 
as singer/organist in Newcastle R&B 
combo Junco Partners. In 1970/71 
he worked with Andy Roberts’ 
Everyone and Mick Abrahams, 
released 1974's sole solo LP, the 





glammy, Mick Ronson-guesting First 
Starring Role, and joined Curved Air 
for 19765 Airborne. Then production 
called. However, by the late 1980s 
he had largely retired and looked 
back on a successful career with 
satisfaction. “1 was always busy, 
hands on and happy,” he said. 

Lois Wilson 


Byron Berline 


Not many people turned down the 
offer to join Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass 
Boys, but fiddler Byron Berline did, 
in order to finish his degree in 
Physical Education in 1965. 
Although he took up Monroe’s 
offer after graduating, Kansas-born 
Berline’s unique ability to include 
elements of jazz, pop and blues in 
his playing would not make its 
biggest impact until he became 


part of the fluid country rock 
collective who inter-laced through 
various line-ups of Dillard & Clark, 
The Flying Burrito Brothers and 
Manassas, while also playing 
sessions for The Rolling Stones, 
Bob Dylan, Elton John, James 
Taylor, Emmylou Harris, Rod 
Stewart and myriad others. After 


























Take a bow: 
Byron Berline. 


several solo long-players and other 
bluegrass groups - Sundance, BCH 
and California among them - in 
1995 Berline opened the Double 
Stop Fiddle Shop in Guthrie, 
Oklahoma, and rarely recorded 
again, preferring to play live with 
his own band. 

Andy Fyfe 

















SINGER/WRITER 

(below, 
b.1948) joined London 
sunshine folk rockers Design 
in 1968, who recorded five 
albums before their 1976 
split. She later wrote with 
Glasgow folk singer Mae 
McKenna. In 1990 she 
formed trance outfit New 
Age Radio with her partner/ 
Sex Pistols producer 
Dave Goodman: 
togethertheyran y 
a “clean energy” 2 
stage at 
Glastonbury 
for 10 years 
before 
relocating to 
Malta, where 
they recorded 
psychedelic 
ambience as the Internet 
Cafe Orchestra and 
Mandala Malta. 


Me CIBC БЕТ PROIDIUIC ЕЕ 


(6.1944) 
played piano at Los Angeles 
funeral homes and 
nightclubs as a youth, sitting 
in, aged 16, with Chico 
Hamilton. Не later worked 
with The Vocals, who 
became The 5th Dimension 
in 1966. After serving in 
Vietnam, McDonald played 
sessions for artists including 
Diana Ross, The Jackson 5, 
Gladys Knight and Carole 
King, enjoyed a live/studio 
collaboration with James 
Taylorand co-produced 
(with Maurice White) Number 
1s for Deniece Williams and 
The Emotions. His other 
credits included work with 
Bill Withers, Aretha 
Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald, 
Ray Charles, Linda 
Ronstadt, Cheech & 
Chong and Hall & Oates. 







ALSO SERVED 


TULSA-BORN ROCKABILLY 
elles 
(b.1935) met Lee 
Hazlewood in Phoenix in 
1956, and cut his song The 
Fool. It reached Number 7 on 
the Billboard chart. Despite 
further collaborations with 
Hazlewood, guitarists Al 
Casey and Duane Eddy, 
plus are-recording of his hit 
with Waylon Jennings 
Ae On guitarin 1965 
™ and 19685 Return 
ЧА, OfTheFoolon 
А Hazlewood's 
LHI label, 
further success 
was denied 
him. He later 
worked in 
construction 
and as a professional 
gambler, though in 1985 he 
was back with Hazlewood 
and Casey for the Desert Sun 
album. He also played the 
international oldies circuit. 


BUTTERFLY CHILD, AKA 
Belfast singer-songwriter- 
multi-instrumentalist 

(b.1969), 
sculpted luminous 
dream-pop, first on his friends 
A.R. Kane's H.ark! label and 
later Rough Trade for 1993's 
Onomatopoeia. Moving to 
Chicago in 1997, Cassidy 
forged the more dance-influ- 
enced Assassins but settled 
in film/TV scores before 
releasing 2015's Futures, 
thefirst Butterfly Child 
album in 18 years. 


VIOLINIST and singer 





Classical violinist from the 
age of 8, hejoined the newly 
formed White Clover in 
1972. The following year the 
group became Kansas, and 
went on to sell 15 million 
records, beginning with 

1976 breakthrough Carry 

On Wayward Son from the 
album Leftoverture. Steinhardt 
played with Kansas from 1973 
to 1982, and again from 1997 
to 2006. Not long before his 
death, he had completed his 
first solo album. 


BASSIST (b. 
1941) was an original member 
of jazzfusion pioneers 
Mahavishnu Orchestra. 
Born in Dublin, he moved to 
Londonin the early '60s to 
study at the Guildhall. There, 
he played with Brian Auger 
and became house bassist at 
Ronnie Scott's, accompany- 
ing Roland Kirk, Sonny 
Rollins and Wes Montgom- 
ery. After winning a 
scholarship to Berklee, Laird 
moved to the US, where 
John McLaughlin invited 
him to join Mahavishnu. In 
1977, Laird released one 
album as band leader, Soft 
Focus, and later worked in 
photography. 


MOSCOW rocker 

(below, 
b.1951) formed Russian 
experimental rockers Zvuki 
Ми in 1982, as the USSR 
entered its terminal phase. 
The group recorded from 
1989 to 2005, including 
19895 Brian Eno-produced 

self-titled LP and toured 


(b 1950) "d internationally, 
co-fronted US Í sharing stages 
prog stars 4 ғ am with Pere 
Kansas. A Ubu and The 
prodigiously Residents. 
talented He was also an 


actor for director Pavel 
Lungin, appearing in Taxi 
Blues (1990) and, after a 
religious epiphany, The Island 
(2006). Having suspended 
the group in 2005, in 2015 
Mamonov reformed Zvuki 
Mu with a new line-up. 


DRUMMER 

(b.1975) was a 
founding member of masked 
Des Moines nu-metallers 
Slipknot, initially called 
The Pale Ones, in 1995. He 
appeared on all the group's 
releases until his 2013 
departure, which he later 
attributed to the neurologi- 
cal disorder transverse 
myelitis. He also played with 
Murderdolls, Scar The 
Martyr, Rob Zombie, 
Ministry and Korn, and 
memorably deputised for 
Lars Ulrich at Metallica's 
2004 Download appearance. 


HALIFAX-BORN rock and 
blues voice 

(0.1946) was 
best-known for fronting 
Uriah Heep in the later 705. 
Hitherto he’d sung with 
Hamburg hard 
rockers Lucifer’s 
Friend and, 
by way of 
contrast, 
the Les 
Humphries 
Singers, 
performing 
with them atthe 
1976 Eurovision Song 
Contest. Later, Lawton 
rejoined Lucifer's Friend, 
formed the John Lawton 
Band, reunited with Heep 
bandmates and presented 
travel shows on Bulgarian TV. 


GUITARIST 
(0.1963) joined Pennsylvania 
hair metallers Cinderella in 









1985. Their debut LP Night 
Songs would eventually go 
triple platinum. He stayed in 
the on-off group until their 
end in 2017. LaBar also 
played with bandmate Eric 
Brittingham in Naked 
Beggars and released a solo 
LP, OneFor The Road, in 2014. 


TENNESSEE-BORN 
keyboardist 

(b.1958) played 
on lan Hunter and Mick 
Ronson; 1976 tour for 
Hunter's You're Never Alone 
With A Schizophrenic. Later, he 
co-wrote Cyndi Lauper's 
1984 hit She Bop and went on 
to play with Foreigner's Lou 
Gramm and,from 1987 to 
1992, Kiss (like other auxiliary 
members, Corbett was 
required to play off-stage). 
In the early ‘90s he joined 
Cinderella, appearing on 
Hot And Bothered, the 
band's contribution to the 
platinum-selling Wayne's 
World soundtrack. 


JAZZ BASSIST 
(below, b.Arthur 
Booth, c.1948) started his 
"m music life in Buffalo 
and moved to 
New York City in 
the late 605. 
With the 
spelling of his 
nickname 
varying over 
the years, he 
went on to play 
with Art Blakey, 
Freddie Hubbard, Eddie 
Harris, Elvin Jones, McCoy 
Tyner, Tony Williams 
Lifetime, Steve Grossman 
and others. He also worked 
with the Sun Ra Arkestra 
from the late '80s. 


Jenny Bulley, Celina Lloyd, 
Martin Aston and lan Harrison 





MOJO 117 




















































Good year, chimps: (main, 
from left) Peter Tork, Davy 
Jones, Michael Nesmith, 
Micky Dolenz; (insets from 
top) hit 45s; songwriters 
Tommy Boyce (left) and Bobby 
Hart (right) chat to Dick Clark. 








As 7.30pm ap- 
SEPTEMBER 12 sroached til: 
autumn Monday evening, the young 
American entertainment-seeker had a 
choice: listen to the radio (The Supremes 
were Number 1 with You Can't Hurry Love) 
or watch the third season of daffy castaway 
sitcom Gilligan's Island start on CBS. Or how 
about this new music and comedy show on 
NBC called The Monkees? TV Week's preview 
had compared itto the Marx Brothers doing 
A Hard Day's Night. Hmmm... 

And so viewers tuned into the first episode 
of The Monkees, entitled Royal Flush. The 
comedic action involved a struggling young 
band of amiable loons rescuing Princess 
Bettina of Harmonica from her evil uncle 
Otto, with goofy gags, costume changes, 
songs and sponsorship from Kellogg's Corn 
Flakes. The group's jangling debut single Last 
Train To Clarksville had entered the charts at 
67 two days earlier, and as the show became 
established over the coming weeks, it started 
to motor. On September 17 it reached 
Number 43; after September 19's haunted 
house/inheritance caper Monkee See, 
Monkee Die, it rose to Number 26. September 
26's anti-greed toymaking parable Monkee 
vs Machine pushed the single again. By 
November 5 it was Number 1, followed a 


118 MOJO 






week later by their self-titled debut album. 
By the end of the year, The Monkees were 
touring to hysterical crowds. 

The textbook success story had begun 
in September 65, when TV producers Bob 
Rafelson and Bert Schneider placed ads in the 
trade press, reading: "Madness!! Auditions. 
Folk & Roll musicians-singers for acting roles 
in new TV series. Running parts for 4 insane 
boys, age 17-21..." 

From 437 applicants who turned up atthe 
LA casting - never including murder-cultist 
Charles Manson, despite urban myth - four 
insane boys were duly signed up. Manches- 
ter-born Davy Jones and local Micky Dolenz 
were both actors who'd sung. Coming with 
purely musical backgrounds were Texan 
Michael Nesmith and northeasterner Peter 





Tork. They'd never met, but the producers, 
eyeing the kind of appeal the Fab Four 
commanded, saw a spark in their manufac- 
tured creation's shared chemistry. 

Refined via audience feedback, the show 
was sold to NBC in February 1966. In addition 
to the long days on set which began іп Мау, 
publisher Don Kirshner brought in writing/ 
production team Tommy Boyce and Bobby 
Hart to helm the musicthe group would 
release. From June, they recorded with 
sessioneers including the Wrecking Crew 
and The Candy Store Prophets, though a 
disaffected Nesmith was quick to get in 
on the writing and producing action, and 
encouraged his new bandmates to sing and 
play. “When we did The Monkees Theme,” 
Boyce later told Hit Parader, “we pictured just 
four kids walking down any street... four 
buddies in long hair and everybody noticing 
them... they wrote a whole script for [Last 
Train To Clarksville].” 

September 1, 1966 saw them begina 
six-date promo tour at the Hollywood base of 
production company Screen Gems, meeting 
the local movers, playing live and showing 
some episodes. After stop-offs in Chicago (6), 
Boston (7) and New York (8 and 9), the jaunt 
concluded back in California on September 
11, where winners of a radio phone-in rode a 





train to the coastal resort of Del Mar, which 
had been renamed Clarksville for the day. 
The Monkees arrived by helicopter, mingled 
with winners and played their first public 
live show on the train back. “I was 19, 20 
years old,” Jones reflected later of their 
hectic beginnings. "Sol was full of the fun 
of the fair, and so were the other guys.” 

With follow-up single I’m A Believer also 
topping the US charts in December, there 
was criticism when Nesmith admitted the 
group didn't play on their own records - The 
Byrds' January 1967 45 So You Want To BeA 
Rock 'N’ Roll Star was widely believed to be 
a dig at the manufactured Monkees. 
Nesmith denied it, but told MOJO in 1997, 
"It wasn't other performers that were, er, 
'snooty' about The Monkees, it was just 
journalists who never got the ideology of 
the whole thing in the first place." 

After the group took greater control of 
their output with 1967's Number 1 album 
Headquarters, they remained on top, and 
in June '67 the TV show won two Emmy 
awards. But the simple fun-times couldn't 
last. In March '68, the decreasingly clean-cut 
show was cancelled after two series, the 
hits began to dry up and in December, their 
psychedelic movie satire Head tanked. Peter 
Tork walked in early '69, telling journalist 
Bruce Pollock in 1982, "It was a unique 
phenomenon, to be a member of a group 
that wasn't really a group and yet was a 
group.” By 1971 it was all over. 

Except it never would be, really. The 
Monkees' afterlife on TV continued, and 
their reunions were frequent. Though Jones 
and Torkare both gone, this September 
Dolenz and Nesmith begin what could be 
their last US tour together. Happy to forever 
be Micky the wacky drummer, Dolenz 
reflected on life in The Monkees to Closer in 
2018: “We just caught lightning in a bottle.” 

lan Harrison 


It’s a scream: (from left) 
“Gimme an ‘aaaaaah!’”; 
somewhere in there, the 
Stones’ Keith Richards. 






Р L ”ج ا2‎ ge 
шол, ae 


қ ке EI 
ег. „ 


STO 


SEPTEMBER 23 The Rolling Stones 


begin a 12-date tour 
at the Royal Albert Hall, supported by the Ike 
- & Tina Turner Revue, The Yardbirds, Peter Jay 
E &The New Jay Walkers and Long John Baldry. 
Е The Stones аге greeted by a mini-riot, greatly 
enjoyed by Brian Jones, and filmed by Peter 
Whitehead ona 16mm camera. The film-maker 


Getty ( 


IES RIO 


Donovan sees Кел - 
the matrix of == 
the universe. E А 


| | 
p 
| 
E 


m EE 


ашышы 


L Try! In| " 





ІНЕН. 


i 


na € 








оо, 
o 

















Donovan's 
top Trip 


SEPTEMBER 3 Donovan's Sunshine 


Superman is 
Number 1 in the US. The disc, featuring 
Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page and John Paul 
Jones, is backed with The Trip. Though 
Donovan later explained the song asa 
love letter to his future wife Linda 
Lawrence, he told MOJO, "sunshine is a 
nickname for acid. The Superman is the 
person capable of entering higher states 
because it’s not easy to go into the fourth 
dimension and see the matrix of the 
universe.” The two songs’ references to 
blown minds and being tripped out mark 
a conspicuous mainstream pop airing for 
the LSD experience. Due to contractual 
difficulties, the British issue of Sunshine 
Superman is delayed but finally hits UK 
Number 2 in January 1967. 










later said Jagger told him he was going to 


incite a stage invasion, adding: “After a couple 


of songs, he turned around and said ‘Ready?’ 
and within 15 seconds the kids were on-stage 
swinging around his neck.” Whitehead later 


intercuts the footage with scenes of the Stones 


in drag for a promo clip for Have You Seen 
Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow? 









7 4 Jy ۴ -- "y | + | 
ЕЛЕН гі РАФ ed 





Napoleon ХІМ” (above) 
They're Coming To Take 
Me Away На-Нааа!, a twisted 

novelty song about mental 
illness, peaks at UK Number 
4, having reached US Number 
3 in August. It's the work of 
songwriter Jerry Samuels. 


Space opera Star Trek 

debuts on US TV: its theme, 
written by Alexander 
Courage, is sung by Loulie 
Jean Norman ofthe Ray 
Conniff Singers. In the 
coming years, stars William 
Shatner, Nichelle Nichols 
and Leonard Nimoy will all 
release their own albums. 


| Small Faces score their 
only UK Number 1 with 
All Or Nothing. This month 
they also play a gruelling 
28-date British tour. 


) | Herb Alpert And The 

Tijuana Brass depart 
for a European tour. He 
currently has five albums in 
the US Top 40, three of which 
topped the charts. 


7 Jimi Hendrix arrives їп 
England for the first 
time, accompanied by 
manager Chas Chandler. 
He’s reputed to have changed 
the spelling of his name from 
Jimmy on the plane over. 
They audition for a new 
group at London's Birdland 
club, and meet bassist Noel 
Redding on September 29. 





AT RAH 





TOP TEN 


NETHERLANDS 
SINGLES 


YELLOW 

SUBMARINE/ 
ELEANOR 
RIGBY THE 
BEATLES PARLOPHONE 


BLACK IS 
BLACK LOS 
BRAVOS BARCLAY 


LADY JANE 


DAVID GARRICK 
PYE 


WITH A GIRL 
LIKE YOU THE 
TROGGS FONTANA 


SUMMER IN 

THE CITY THE 
LOVIN’ SPOONFUL 
KAMA SUTRA 


DANS JE DE 

HELE NACHT 
MET MIJ KARIN 
KENT DECCA 


I SAW HER 
AGAIN THE 
MAMAS AND THE 
PAPAS RCA VICTOR 
OH, OH 
WHAT A KISS 
WILL ANDY CNR 


MOTHER'S 

LITTLE 
HELPER/LADY 
JANE THE 
ROLLING STONES 
DECCA 


SUNNY 
AFTERNOON 
THE KINKS PvE 


See them again: 
The Mamas And 
The Papas at 7. 





From the Bundesrepublik Deutschland, 


menthol fags meet Moptop wig for a smoke 
that “invigorates and refreshes”, apparently. 





MOJO 119 


= 
P 
33 


Jes 


Was Zappaa Furry | 
Freak Brother? 


Fred Dellar has been a mine of information to me 
since his Fred Fact days on the NME and | am sure 
he would have had no trouble with this one. 
I remember reading sometime in the early '80s 
that Frank Zappa was їо play Phineas Freak in 
afilm version of the anarchic hippy comic The 
Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. Such inspired 
casting had me hanging on for years. Was 
production ever started and who was to have 
played Freewheelin' Franklin and Fat Freddy? 
Mark SJ Weller, Shepton Mallet 


Zappa may have hated all drugs 
except caffeine and nicotine, but him playing the 
dope-addled Phineas is a tempting prospect. As for 
whether it was ever a goer, Tony Bennett  , 
of legendary UK comics publisher 
Knockabout asked FFB's creator Gilbert 
Shelton, who sent word back. "Zappa 
was never up for playing Phineas,” 
Bennett relays. "This wasthe period 
when Universal Studios had bought an 
option, which they held onto through 
renewals for about five years and got no 
further with the project... as happened 
on many occasions, several names were 
touted around. It is quite likely that 
Zappa knew nothing about it at all." 
He addsthat Universal toyed with 
the idea of adding a Freak Sister 
to the mix. While there was an 
unofficial Freak Brothers porn 
film called Up In Flames in 
1978 (which also "starred" a 
rip-off of R. Crumb's Mr Natural 
character), a new animated 
Freak Brothers series made by 
the producers of sci-fi comedy 
Rick & Morty is currently creeping 
outonline, voiced by Woody Harrelson 
and John Goodman among others, with 
oodles of '60s tuneage. Incidentally, if Zappa 
really had been in the frame, we're saying Dennis 
Hopper would have made a good Freewheelin' 
Franklin and Michael J Pollard could have carried 
off Fat Freddy with aplomb. And for Shelton's 


120 MOJO 





















Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers 
comics, see knockabout.com. 


FROM SAHB 

TO QUAD? 

In 1978, the BBC broadcast a 

session by Alex Harvey on the Alan Freeman 

show. It appeared in 2016 on The Last Of The 

Teenage Idols box set, credited to ‘Alex Harvey 

with QUAD'. Who were the musicians in QUAD 

and how did their involvement come about? 
Michael Scott, via e-mail 





Our resident SAHB specialist James 
McNair points to John Neil Munro's 2002 biography 
The Sensational Alex Harvey, which refers to an 
unnamed outfit featuring keyboardist Tommy 
Eyre, guitarist Matthew Cang, bassist Gordon Sellar, 
drummer Simon Chatterton and saxophonist 
Don Weller and Alex playing a one-off gig at The 
London Palladium in March 1978, 
the same month as the Alan Freeman 
session, so odds are it's them. As for 
the band moniker, there’s speculation 
that it’s all down to an engineer 
misreading a reference to quadro- 
phonic sound on a tape reel. But 
can anyone out there say for sure? 


RAEL ON 


Having just picked up the latest 
remaster of The Who Sell Out, l'm 
puzzled by the rather severe edit 
that cuts half of the first verse of 
Rael (Part 1). This edit occurs 
on both the stereo and mono 
versions, but I’ve never heard 
it before. I’m aware of the 
story of the cleaning lady at 
Talent Masters Studios, New 
York, who threw the unboxed 
multitrack tape in the bin and 
damaged the beginning of the 
recording, but this doesn’t seem 
to have affected earlier releases. 
Was it originally released this way? 
Jeff Crawford, Adelaide, South Australia 


It was. The original mono and stereo 
versions of Rael 1 gloried ina slightly clunky edit 
after the first verse until Andy McPherson's 1995 
remix/remaster restored seven seconds of 





Comic turns: (clockwise 
from far left) Frank Zappa 
with (insets from top) 
Phineas, Freewheelin’ 
Franklin, Fat Freddy; The 
Who puzzle over a missing 
seven seconds; source 

LP The Who Sell Out; Bow 
Wow Wow get it taped on 
1980’s Your Cassette Pet. 


goldfish-referencing 
lyrics. Staying loyal to 
the original album version, 
as Super Deluxe versions do, the 2021 edition gives 
us options with the extra lines and without. Pete 
Townshend described the compiling process 
as “lovely”, incidentally, and declares himself, 
“very pleasantly surprised.” 


VIDDY WELL! 


Regarding videos that were made of entire 
albums (MOJO 332), let’s not forget Elton John’s 
1981 album The Fox (released as Visions). 

Joseph Cocucci, via e-mail 


Thanks also to readers who pointed out 
other acts whose albums got the video treatment, 
such as Beck's The Information (Interscope, 2006), 
Kate Bush's The Line, The Cross And The Curve (PMI, 
1993), Nine Types Of Light by TV On The Radio 
(Interscope, 2010) and the visuals Kraftwerk 
created for their live albums-in-full audio-visual 
box 3D The Catalogue (Parlophone, 2017). 


REET OBSOLETE 


Re: Ask MOJO 333’s request for songs whose 
topicality has dated. Your correspondent David 
Lloyd asks for examples of songs referencing 
decimal coinage - the finest of these was surely 
Max Bygraves’ 1970 banger Decimalisation: “’Cos 
we've got decimalisation, decimalisation, there's 
ahundred new pennies now for every pound." 
Yours nostalgically... 

John Burscough, N Lincs 


Well, it’s not a bad way of remembering. 
For other unnerving blasts of displaced modernity, 
thanks for the following suggestions: Bow Wow 
Wow's C-30 C-60 C-90 Go (EMI, 1980), Partners In 
Rhymes' Pager Checkin' (Northland, 1998) and 
anyone who included “.com/dot com" in an album 
title (we're looking at you Marillion and Jethro Tull). 


CONTACT MOJO 


Have you gota challenging musical question for the MOJO 


Brains Trust? E-mail askmojo@bauermedia.co.uk and 
we'll help untangle your trickiest puzzles. 





Getty (3), Alamy 


Getty (3) 





Win! The Fives powered 





Klipsch in 1946, the Klipsch loudspeak- 

er company are world-renowned for 
their high-end audio products. Part of their 
award-winning Heritage Wireless series, 
The Fives are a versatile pair of beautifully 
crafted speakers that can connect to virtually 
everything. With HDMI-ARC to connect 
directly to a TV, it produces high fidelity sound 
from dedicated right and left speakers. With 
a built-in phono pre-amp, TheFives connect 
directly to your turntable for superior stereo 
sound. Made with luxury materials, The Fives 
incorporate award-winning, proprietary 
Klipsch Reference acoustic horn-loaded 
technology and tuning to deliver loud and 


- OUNDED BY hi-fi pioneer Paul W. 









ل 




















dua Е 








High Deal Speakers 


P Dr Dr n ш 
а а а ра M X 





E a 






MOJO 332 


Across: 1 Lana Del 
Rey, 6/24 Steve 
Marriott, 8 Universal 
Soldier, 11 Dreamer, 
14 Breakfast In Bed, 17 
Art, 18 Ways, 21 Oh 
Diane, 23 Earl, 25 
Name, 26 Riot, 27 
Regret, 29 Ida, 30 Eels, 
31 Inspiral, 32 Area, 33 
Dean, 35 M.G.M.T., 36 
Nadine, 37 Born 
Again, 39 Lind, 40 Ha 
Ha, 41 Hersh, 45 David 
Watts, 47 Ure, 48 Little 
Man, 50 Randy 
Bachman, 53 Ted, 

54 Warchild, 57 Tune, 
58 Eli, 59 F.B.l., 60/68 
Wade In The Water, 
64 M.F.S.B., 65 Sale, 
66 One On One, 

67 Sergio. 


Down: 1 Laura Nyro, 2 
Noise, 3 Drew, 4 Laser, 
5 Yes, 6 Sal Valentino, 
7 Vee, 9 Leaving Eden, 
10 Range, 12 Reward, 
13 Rattle And Hum, 14 
B.T.O, 15 Thompson, 
16 Eartha Kitt, 19 Aria, 
20 Sitar, 22 Horslips, 
28 Biograph, 291 Am 
The Law, 32 Atlantic, 
34A Brand New Bag, 
38 Rainbirds, 42 Era, 
43 Rent, 44 Hard 
Times, 46 Single, 49 
Evil, 51 Cecil, 52 Meet, 
55 Heinz, 56Limo, 59 
Fool, 61 Ear, 62 Nena, 


precise audio with enhanced bass and low 
distortion. With custom-designed built-in 
amplifiers, they deliver room-filling sound 
while eliminating the need for an audio/ 
video receiver. They're worth £839 per pair, 
and we have aset to give away! 

So have at MOJO's crossword and send 
ascan of it to mojo@bauermedia.co.uk and 
please make sure to type CROSSWORD 335 
in the subject line. Entries without that 
subject line will not be considered. Please 
include your home address, email and 
phone number. The closing date for entries 


is October 2. For the rules of the quiz, see 63 Hole. 
www.mojo4music.com Winners: Stephen 
And, continuing in the spirit of the great Sargent of 


Stevenage winsa 
Complete Synthesizer 
Exploration Station 
from Moog. 


a 


Fred Dellar, can we get a handclap for our 
new crossword master, Michael Jones? 





www.klipsch.com/the-fives 


30 





B | 
"m HN 
EH 





33 

























9% | 
Е 
а oum MA 
11 
EN 

= 
























ACROSS 

1 See photoclue A (4,6) 

9 Mary Margaret or just Mary (5) 

10 Dire Straits’ tour for Love Over Gold was 
transformed into this live album (7) 

11 ---- Strap, and maybe a boy with it (4) 
12 Getting on a bit with Clapton’s sock (3) 
13 Stephen Duffy’s amorous request (4,2) 
17 Soft Boy Robyn (9) 

19 Gaga, Sovereign or Saw? (4) 

22 He would have been the target market 
for The High Numbers (3) 

23 Dr who killed the barber (10) 

24 See 68 

25 Singer and performer and civil rights 
activist Horne (4) 

26 And A Bang On The --- (Waterboys) (3) 
27 What Patti Smith got from Them (6) 

29 ---- Puppets (4) 

33 They were Disappointed in 1992 (10) 
34 It was Paul McCartney’s new one after 
New (5,7) 

39 Big Country's second LP (9) 

40 Not feeling a thing about Linkin Park (4) 
41 Trunk calls coming from Mark 
Lanegan's band? (9,5) 

43 Up Around The ---- (Creedence) (4) 

44 A bit of graphic language spoken in 
this genre (3) 

47 Prince got naked on this LP sleeve (8) 
48 Costello off in a different direction (5) 
50 America's man is half the man that 
made 13 across (3) 

52 Bingo Hand Job's usual name (1.1 
54 Could be Washington, or Shore (5) 
56 "Coast to coast, LA to Chicago..." 
(Sade) (6,8) 

58 Butch from Garbage (3) 

60 Shades of a Donovan track (7) 

62 "Ambient supergroup" Channel Light 


1.) 


64 Kate Bush was never for this (4) 

66 McCann, McKeown or, on guitar, Paul (3) 
67 Roxy Music’s Brian (3) 

68/24 Buddy Rich album that featured 
Jumping At The Woodside (4,4,3,5) 

69 Neil, who's been searchin’ for the 
dolphins in the sea (4) 


DOWN 

1 Faith who had a hit, Again (5) 

2 Maggie, Terre, Suzzy's folk family name (5) 
3 He was born Michael Balzary (4) 

4 It's A Shame About --- (Lemonheads) (3) 
5 Neptunes spin-off that achieved Rock 
Star status (1.1.1.1.) 

6 Italian prog act who soundtracked 
Dario Argento's Suspiria (6) 

7 Will Oldham's first incarnation (6,8) 

8 Dream A Little Dream, she advised (4,4) 
11 The state of this Neil Young track! (7) 
14 The sort of sweet music in which Otis 
goes Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (3,4) 

15 "Would you be there, be there, be 
there for me?" (Foals) (5) 

16 It takes more to set off this Ms (8) 

18 See photoclue B (4) 

19 How big are Kim and Louis? (3) 

20 Andy Fairweather Low's corner (4) 

21 Snaith, AKA Manitoba, AKA Caribou (3) 
22 A-ha man's issues of MOJO (4) 

26 Who get lucky sometimes, according 
to Tom Petty? (4,3,6) 

28 Only person to go from Forever 
Changes to Four Sail (6,3) 

30 Pearl Jam's debut long-player (3) 

31 Nooneis this think the Pistols (8) 

32 Claim clodhoppers Genesis (1,4,5) 

35 The Boys turned nasty at Christmas (4) 
36 See photoclue C (4,8) 

37 ------ Of Symmetry (Muse album) (6) 
38 A place for The Handsome Family? Far 
from it (3,4) 

42 Hunter, Motown composer who wrote 
for Marvin Gaye and Martha Reeves (3,2) 
45 God had one for Drake (4) 

46 Jazz trumpeter Baker (4) 

49 ------- Park (Beth Orton album) (7) 

51 Her voice is soft like summer rain (6) 
53 The ----, who shifted into 63 Down (4) 
55 Catchy riff from Peter on bass (4) 

57 Terry Reid flows in 1973 (5) 

59 Chandler, the Duke Of Earl (4) 

61 Abba and ABC need urgent help (1.1.1.) 
63 Initially, Jeff Lynne's group (1.1.1.) 

65 Swamp pop king Bernard (3) 


MOJO 121 


GOODBYE 


Complicated game (clockwise from main): 
Andy Partridge (left) апа Colin Moulding 
in XTC’s duo-days; as Helium Kidz on 
Swindon Viewpoint TV, 1974, with Terry 
Chambers (bottom right) and Dave 
Cartner (bottom left); Moulding today. 


Р ] „ 
EP f 
- | B i қ 
! re } 
р * 


Getty 


Co lin Moulding and XTC 





NOVEMBER 1972 


Kempster’s music store was the place to go 

in Swindon on a Saturday morning - you'd 
hear somebody thumping out Smoke On 

The Water or something as you climbed the 
stairs. [Owner] Jeff Kempster was an all-round 
good egg. 

On this day, | was quite surprised to see 
Andy [Partridge] in there, taking guitars off 
the wall - very expensive guitars, | might add, 
Rickenbackers and Gibsons, and playing 
them quite competently. | knew Andy 
because we used to go to the same school. 
So, just pulled up a stool beside him and 
picked a bass guitar off the wall and we 
started playing along together, just a general 
bluesy jam, | think. 

Then [Partridge manager] Dave Bennett 
and Andy came to the caretaker’s bungalow 
at Headlands School where | was living, and 
asked if | wanted to come to a jam session in 
somebody's garage. How could | turn down 
that invitation, on a cold winter's night? This 
local character called Martin 
Church, who had a van, it ға 
was his parents’ garage оп 
Church Walk North. We A 5 Jd 
probably played some early PAIS M 
stuff of Andy's, you know, he REN 
was writingeventhen,and FE 
maybe a few Stones covers. | 

Andy had a word in ту 
ear and said that he wasn’t 
particularly happy with the 
arrangement he was in [with 
bandmates Nervous Steve 
and Paul Wilson], and would 
| ре interested in starting 
something up? | knew Terry 
[Chambers, drums], so the 
nucleus of XTC was born 
right at that moment. 


122 MOJO 


E Г k i 
4% | i at We | ы! 
I > cz А е м, қ 
M d * > х ае 
ET — ы 





= Ae oo -——À = = 


You know, Andy was the writer and he's 
got a sort of a dictatorial kind of way of going 
on, and me and Terry kind of went along with 
it. It didn’t feel like a big break or anything, 
and little did | know | had five very dispiriting 
years ahead of me. We started off as Star Park, 
then became the Helium Kidz, and then | 
thinkfor a short time, The Snakes. Then punk 
confused the hell out of record companies 
and they pretty much signed everybody, us 
included! Solthinkthe moment of arrival was 
when we walked in on our first recording 
session at Abbey Road [in April 1977]. In the 
foyer there was all these pictures of The 
Beatles, almost like a shrine, you know. It was 
very exciting and very frightening. Fear, 
confused with a thrill. 


SUMMER 2006 


It was perhaps the longest goodbye in 
history, because nothing really happens. It 
was a slow kind of estrangement after [2000's 
Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2)]. | wasn't 
sure whether Andy wanted to make another 
record. | certainly did. | suppose the turning 
point came two or three years later, when he 
said, “I want to release all my demos, do you 
want to release yours?" | got the impression 
he was going for broke, and | 
really didn't want to do that 
[eight volumes of Partridge's 
Fuzzy Warbles were released 
from 2002-06]. 

We'd lost Dave [Gregory, 
guitar] by then, remember. 
There was something about 
the dynamic with the three 
of us that | think was 
cohesive. Once Dave left, 
| almost became Andy's 
adversary, | think. I’d felt that 
he was perhaps becoming 
slightly more dictatorial than 
he otherwise had been. 

A few years went by. We 
were trundling along, 
distributing the remains of 











the studio. | think | took some gear round to 
Andy's house, part of the patchbay, and it was 
pretty much, "Well, here it is old boy, have 
fun," you know? One of those conversations. 
One doesn't talk about one's estrangement, 
that's why we were estranged. 

The words "I quit" hadn't been uttered by 
anybody. The final axe fell when we had 
arguments over money. It got pretty petty, 
really. That was the basis ofthe argument that 
split XTC really, though there was no official 
announcement. | remember for two years 
after, | watched TV and contemplated my 
future. Later, | started to do sessions for Billy 
Sherwood, who's the bass player of Yes now, 
solowe everything to him for getting me 
back into it. 

[Andy and |] didn't speak for a long time, 
except about business, and then it was quite 
terse. But we're quite cordial with each other 
now, it's probably as good as it's been for 
quite some time. Would we do XTC again? 
(laughs) | don't think we would, because I’m 
not sure whether І could put up with his 
dictatorial ways any more, or whether he 
could put up with me. 

| am beginning to make music again. I’m 
too old to make albums, they take a long time, 
[but] whatever material | have, the public can 
have it if they wish. 

As told to lan Harrison 


Colin Moulding’s The Hardest Battle EP is out now 
on Burning Shed. 











| SOUND 
MACHINE 


ро YOU HAVE "i 
VINYL RECORD x 
COLLECTION TO SELL? е. 


CDs 





es 











quality collections of vinyl records and 
d Ireland. We'll travel to you. 
talk with one of our specialists 


We are interested in viewing ALL 
ANYWHERE throughout the UK an 


sound Machine if you would like to 


tact The 
Е pointment. 


or to arrange а viewing ap 





= g 
= - 


across all genres. 


v ‘nfoathesoundmachine. uk.com 


9 ¬1, Harris Arcade, Reading, 
mig 957 5075 (8 07786 078 361 


Berkshire RG! 1DN 





thesoundmachine.uk.com 
FOY 


ШПЦПЦВ ШИ ИИИИЦИИИЦИИИ"ИГИЧИИШНШНІШШШШІШІШІ 


ҺИН 


me 


Є 








т M dem 
NEW ALBUM COMING 24.9.21 


"[Malin] writes vivid songs with killer tunes 
and sings them with scary conviction.” 
- The Times 


27.9 KING TUT’S WAH WAH HUT, GLASGOW 
28.9 CLUNY, NEWCASTLE 
29.9 NIGHT & DAY CAFE, MANCHESTER 
50.9 BELGRAVE MUSIC HALL, LEEDS 
2.10 THE MAUDE, LEEK 
5219 THE GREYSTONES, SHEFFIELD 
210 THE FLEECE, BRISTOL 
6.10 THE MUSICIAN, LEICESTER 
7.10 METRONOME, NOTTINGHAM 
8.10 THE GARAGE, LONDON 
9.10 MID SUSSEX MUSIC HALL, BRIGHTON